Josh Shapiro says ‘antisemitism had no impact’ on Kamala Harris’ VP decision

Gov. Josh Shapiro has rejected the idea that his Jewish faith played a role in Vice President Kamala Harris’ decision to choose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over him as a running mate.

“I can tell you that antisemitism had no impact on the dialogue between the vice president and me, period,” Shapiro said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.

Shapiro’s comments come after Republican VP candidate JD Vance said Harris acquiesced “to the most radical elements of her party” in her decision to choose Walz over Shapiro, pointing to antisemitism as the cause, during his Tuesday visit to South Philly.

Vance’s comments were buttressed by untrue speculation that Shapiro downplayed his Jewishness during the VP vetting process.

“I genuinely feel bad that for days, maybe weeks, the guy actually had to run away from his Jewish heritage because of what the Democrats are saying about him, I think that’s scandalous and disgraceful,” Vance said.

Shapiro, who has remained vocal about his faith, appeared to respond to Vance’s claims later Tuesday when speaking at Harris’ rally.

“I am proud of my faith,” Shapiro told the crowd at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus.

The GOP has been using Shapiro’s Jewish background and antisemitism to attack Harris’ campaign. Dave McCormick, the Pa. Republican candidate for Senate posted on X, saying: “It’s hard to imagine that [Shapiro’s] strong stand on Israel [and] his Jewish background didn’t somehow factor into the decision.”

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, is Jewish.

“I absolutely can’t fathom a universe in which Vice President Harris, who’s married to a Jewish man, decided not to select Josh Shapiro as her running mate because Josh is Jewish,” said Shapiro’s rabbi, David Glanzberg-Krainin of Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park. “There’s just no world in which I can conceive of that as being possible.”

But even before Republican attempts to latch on to the idea, prominent Democratic officials condemned some public opposition to Shapiro as antisemitic.

“Singling him out, or applying a double standard to him over the war in Gaza, is antisemitic and wrong,” U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.), a candidate for U.S. Senate who is Jewish, wrote on X.

Throughout his governorship, Shapiro has expressed outward support for Israel, with views in line with many establishment Democrats, including Walz’s own following Hamas’ October attack on the Jewish nation. Later, Walz told Minnesota Public Radio that he’s called for a “working cease-fire.”

In his interview with the Washington Examiner, Shapiro was careful to note that antisemitism was a real problem in Pennsylvania and nationwide, but that it had no bearing on Harris’ decision.

“I don’t want what I’m about to say to reflect in any way on the vice president,” he said, “but antisemitism is a real concern here in Pennsylvania and across this country, and leaders need to speak and act with moral clarity and condemn hate in all of its forms.”

Katie Bernard, Max Marin, Julia Terruso, Anna Orso, and Gillian McGoldrick contributed reporting.