Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro has revealed a surprising encounter with Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign team that left him feeling “offended.” In his memoir, “Where We Keep the Light,” Shapiro shares his experience of being questioned on whether he was a “double agent” for Israel.
As a Jewish politician, Shapiro found himself under scrutiny by Harris’ team as she was in the process of selecting a vice presidential candidate. Alongside him, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Arizona Senator Mark Kelly were also considered for the position.
During this vetting process, the Harris campaign appeared particularly interested in Shapiro’s stance on Israel, especially amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas. The pointed inquiry about his loyalty to Israel struck a nerve with Shapiro, as he recounted feeling deeply offended by the implication.
The New York Times reported that Shapiro responded to the question with offense and was met with a terse explanation from Harris’ team: “Well, we have to ask.”
Shapiro replied that the question was offensive, according to The New York Times.
The governor wrote he was then told: ‘Well, we have to ask.’
He went on to say he understood the woman asking the question was ‘just doing her job,’ but the fact that he was asked the question ‘said a lot about some of the people around the VP.’
But that was not the only question about Israel that the Harris campaign lobbed at Shapiro, whose home was once firebombed over the war in Gaza, he wrote.
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, was left ‘offended’ when members of Kamala Harris’ campaign asked him whether he was a ‘double agent’ for Israel
The governor was on Harris’ short list to be her running mate
‘I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me – the only Jewish guy in the running – or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,’ wrote Shapiro, who had been an outspoken critic of what he saw as antisemitism on college campuses amid the war.
In all, Shapiro said, ‘These sessions were completely professional and businesslike.’
‘But I just had a knot in my stomach through all of it,’ he wrote.
The Pennsylvania governor had been considered a favorite to be Harris’ running mate due to his popularity in an important swing state.
Many leftists, though, had been worried that Shapiro would be too pro-Israel and Democrats were concerned his nomination would re-spark controversial conversations about Gaza and would ultimately hurt Harris’ campaign.
The former vice president addressed some of these concerns in her own memoir, 107 Days, which was released last year.
She alluded to ‘the attacks [Shapiro had] confronted on Gaza and what effect it might have on the enthusiasm we were trying to build.’
Yet she also noted that Shapiro had been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
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Shapiro detailed the questions he was asked by the Harris campaign in his new memoir
What really seemed to motivate Harris to pick Walz over Shapiro was ‘a nagging concern that [Shapiro] would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership,’ according to her memoir.
She described the Pennsylvania governor as someone who was ‘peppering’ her and her staff with questions about the details of the jobs, including details on the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory.
Shapiro wanted to know how many bedrooms there were, and whether he could arrange to have more art from Pennsylvania artists in the home if he was elected vice president.
He also wanted to make sure he would be in the room before Harris made her final decision on any significant political issue.
The demand was similar to that of former President Barack Obama’s concession to then-Senator Joe Biden who he chose as vice president.
‘If we had door A and door B as options, and she was for door A and I was for door B, I just wanted to make sure that I could make the case for door B and if I didn’t convince her, then I’d run right through a brick wall to support her decision,’ Shapiro explained of his request.
‘She was crystal clear that that was not what she was looking for.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Harris’ office for comment.
