Philly’s Kamala Harris endorsement event becomes a ‘Josh Shapiro for VP’ party

PHILADELPHIA — The event was supposed to be all about Kamala Harris raking in the endorsements.

But as labor unions and Democratic leaders rallied Friday to declare Pennsylvania’s support for her presidential bid, the focus was all on one man: Gov. Josh Shapiro.

As he stood steps away on stage, Shapiro received endorsement after endorsement from a series of speakers hoping Harris would pick him as her vice presidential candidate. By the end of the event, the heads of two powerful unions, the longtime Joe Biden confidante who chairs the Philadelphia Democratic Party and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker had all backed Shapiro to be Harris’ running mate — and yes, they threw their weight behind Harris, too.

“If they take our advice, Josh Shapiro will be our vice president,” Parker said, pointing to his ability to win Pennsylvania.

It was an extraordinarily public display as the veepstakes — normally a sensitive process cloaked more in rumor — moves rapidly out of the shadows. Shapiro is one of the potential candidates being vetted by the Covington & Burling law firm, according to a person familiar with the process granted anonymity to discuss a private process. Possible candidates and their allies have sought to boost their public profile in recent days, including hitting the campaign trail to stump for Harris.

Shapiro plans to lead a Harris volunteer kick-off Saturday in central Pennsylvania before returning to the Philadelphia area on Monday for an event with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — who’s also reportedly in the mix for vice president, despite stressing she’s not interested .

The public jockeying is a delicate part of the audition process, and Shapiro and others have largely tried to avoid doing it too aggressively. On Friday, he continued to avoid even directly acknowledging interest in the position, saying any such decision is in Harris’ hands.

His allies did not have the same caution.

Within minutes of taking the stage, the leader of Philadelphia’s powerful building trades council, Ryan Boyer, admitted openly: “He would look good on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.”

Shapiro shook his head, gently put his hand on Boyer’s shoulder and told him: “Alright, thank you very much.”

The Harris endorsement event then quickly became more of a Shapiro rally.

Speaking after Boyer, the head of the city’s electricians’ union spent about 45 seconds talking up Harris before quickly pivoting into a four-minute rundown of Shapiro’s track record on unions, his repairing of the I-95 highway in 12 days, and his time as a county commissioner, attorney general and now governor.

“Those receipts show that Gov. Shapiro is the right choice — I said it — and a choice for uniting the states of America,” he said, prompting the crowd to applaud and Shapiro to shake his head again while laughing.

Through it all, Shapiro stood on stage with the other speakers, putting him just a few feet away as they stepped up to the podium and praised him.

“You all know how I feel about the governor, though he kind of embargoed me to be quiet, a bit. But to hell with that,” said former Rep. Bob Brady, the chair of the Philadelphia Democratic Party and a longtime friend of Biden, before launching into yet another full-throated endorsement of Shapiro.

By the time Parker, too, had backed him, Shapiro had stopped laughing and was looking more uncomfortable.

It was a show of force for Shapiro among unions, a powerful force in Pennsylvania Democratic politics. It came as the governor has faced criticism from some advocates over his record on education and Israel. And it was the latest display of public lobbying as the extremely constrained time frame for Harris to pick her running mate has pushed Democrats across the country to scramble.

Shapiro demurred from the praise when talking to reporters after the event and refused to weigh in on the current veepstakes.

“I’m not going to add any political pressure to the vice president,” Shapiro said. “She will make this deeply personal decision as to who she wants to run with and govern with and move America forward with. And as for these labor folks who have been by my side for years and years and years, we’ve worked together to make progress.”

Pennsylvania is the largest electoral battleground, won by just tens of thousands of votes by Donald Trump in 2016 and Biden in 2020. The state is crucial to any path to victory that relies on the Rust Belt — which also includes Wisconsin and Michigan, states that have majority-white populations and a history of organized labor’s political heft.

And Shapiro has a series of electoral victories, including comfortably winning the governorship in 2022, defeating far-right Republican nominee Doug Mastriano. He’s received more votes than the presidential candidates with whom he shared a ballot, including in his attorney general reelection campaign in 2020, when he received more votes than any other candidate in Pennsylvania history.

Recreating Shapiro’s winning coalition would give Harris a major advantage on the electoral map, especially as Trump consistently led in statewide polling this year when Biden topped the ticket. There’s been limited public polling since the president dropped out of the race, but two surveys show Harris closing the gap.

“If you want to win Pennsylvania, there is no other candidate in this nation positioned to help us win the White House than our governor, Josh Shapiro,” Parker, the mayor of Philadelphia, said in her turn at the microphone Friday.

Shapiro, as well as a majority of party leaders and elected officials, endorsed Harris after Biden withdrew his candidacy. The Pennsylvania governor, already a long-rumored 2028 presidential contender, rocketed into contention for Harris’ vice presidential pick and quickly earned endorsements from Democrats across the state.

Brady told POLITICO that he wasn’t planning to endorse Shapiro at the event, but “I couldn’t help myself.” (He has repeatedly made clear over the last week that he is backing the governor, including in a fundraising email hours after Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday that declared: “Our Governor, Josh Shapiro, would be an excellent choice.”)

“The road to the White House goes through Pennsylvania,” Brady said in an interview Friday. “And why not make our life easier and make the road to the White House a done deal by just putting our favorite son in the vice presidential position?”

He said there was something of a respectful competition with North Carolina, another (redder) swing state whose governor, Roy Cooper, has also drawn elected officials to his side amid the VP jockeying.

But the focus is ultimately on Harris winning, and “we won’t be sour grapes” if Shapiro isn’t picked, Brady added.

Holly Otterbein contributed to this report.