CHICAGO — He failed to secure the nomination to be Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate, but Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was ubiquitous and in demand at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week.
He appeared at numerous state delegation breakfasts every day and made headlines with his comments on the conflict report with US Senator John Fetterman and overthrow former president donald Trump’s claim that anti-Semitism played a role in his failure to receive the vice presidential nomination.
Shapiro took the DNC stage Wednesday night, the same night that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Harris’ vice presidential running mate, is delivering his inaugural address. Sounding a bit raspy, Shapiro spoke after former President Bill Clinton and former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which was perfect timing for the third night of primetime at the DNC.
Shapiro delivered a rousing speech that energized the United Center audience, beginning with a familiar reference to the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection.
“Two and a half centuries ago in Philadelphia, a group of patriots declared their independence from the king and set out on a path of self-determination,” Shapiro said. “Generation after generation, they have accepted that responsibility. Ordinary Americans have risen up, demanded more, sought justice. And in every chapter of our American history, we have made progress and advanced the cause of freedom.”
Harris, Shapiro said, has spent her entire career making progress. He called Trump “a man without guardrails” who “wraps himself in a blanket of freedom.”
“It’s not freedom to tell our children what books they can read. It’s not freedom to tell women what they can do with their bodies,” he continued. “And it’s certainly not freedom to say you can go vote, but he gets to choose the winner. That’s not freedom.”
Pennsylvania was a key battleground state in 2024: a state that flipped red in 2016 for Trump and flipped back to blue for President Joe Biden in 2020. Both the GOP and Democrats have carried the state multiple times, and its 19 electoral votes were a tempting prize for the winner.
Shapiro, as he noted in an interview with Politico earlier Wednesday, has never lost an election and was part of the 2022 blue wave, defeating state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin) by 15 points.
During his DNC speech, he said Democrats are “the party of true freedom.”
“The kind of true freedom that comes when a child has a great public school with an amazing teacher because we believe in their future. The kind of true freedom that comes when we invest in the police and the community so that a child can go to school safely and come home to their mother. The kind of true freedom that comes when a child can join a union, marry someone they love, raise a family on their own terms, breathe clean air and drink clean water, worship the way they want and live a life of purpose where they are respected for who they are. The kind of true freedom that comes when they look at the president and know that this is a nation where anything is possible.”
Shapiro said that “Kamala and Tim’s names may be on the ballot,” but rights and freedoms are at stake.
“You have the power to shape the future of this country, just like our forefathers who fought for freedom on the battlefield and sat in bars so their children could defend themselves.”
At the end, he asked a series of questions to the audience, who answered each of them with a resounding “yes.”
“Are you ready to protect our rights? Are you ready to secure our freedoms? Are you ready to defend our democracy? And are you ready to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz?
Let’s get to work!”
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