Josh Shapiro meets with Kamala Harris campaign amid VP search; Donald Trump doubles-down after falsely questioning if Harris is Black

The United Auto Workers endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president Wednesday, but union president Shawn Fain has taken issue with one of the top contenders to be her running mate — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro's stance on taxpayer-funded private school vouchers is a "big issue," Fain told The Detroit News in an interview Thursday. School vouchers, which give parents state funding to send their children to private school, are an issue Shapiro has agreed to compromise with Republicans on since becoming governor.

This week, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been doing damage control for statements she made in 2019 in support of a ban on hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

Politicians seeking votes in Pennsylvania have to stake middle ground on fracking, a method of drilling horizontally through shale to tap pockets of natural gas. Harris’ flip-flop is emblematic of the treacherous path Democrats tread in Pennsylvania where the fossil fuel industry flexes economic and politic muscle. At the same, time state has forceful environmentalists pushing for renewable energy.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro canceled several fundraisers in the Hamptons this weekend, as he remains a top contender for Kamala Harris to choose as her running mate, a spokesperson confirmed.

“The Governor’s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,” said Manuel Bonder, Shapiro’s press secretary, in a statement. “His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend.”

Gov. Josh Shapiro has met with Kamala Harris' campaign as the vetting process for vice presidential candidates continues, two people familiar with the process told The Inquirer.

Shapiro met with the campaign Wednesday, according to the sources, who did not know if the meetings were in person or virtual. The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg.

Former President Donald Trump is doubling-down on controversial remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity.

In a post on Truth Social Thursday, Trump shared an undated photo of Harris wearing a Sari with her mother’s side of the family, who are from India.

Former President Donald Trump's interview at a panel hosted by the National Association for Black Journalists devolved into a tirade full of insults.

He berated moderator and ABC reporter Rachel Scott and made false attacks about Vice President Kamala Harris's race. Now, as footage from the panel spreads across TV and social media, politicians and public figures are speaking out against the Republican presidential candidate — including members of his own party.

A day after Donald Trump’s inflammatory remarks on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity, Philadelphia Democrats and labor leaders on Wednesday criticized the former president for saying Harris at some point “happened to turn Black.”

Harris, whose mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican, has publicly embraced both identities. She attended Howard University, a historically Black university, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a Black sorority.

Voting for the Democratic presidential nominee began Thursday morning with a virtual roll call, and Vice President Kamala Harris is the only candidate who has qualified.

Harris is uncontested after securing the support of enough delegates to secure the nomination, making her the Democrat’s official candidate taking on Republican nominee Donald Trump. That includes Pennsylvania’s 159 delegates, who voted unanimously to back Harris last month. 

As Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to announce her running mate, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that several of the top contenders for the role are largely unknown to Americans. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly stands out as one with more name recognition and higher favorability, particularly among Democrats.

The survey, which was conducted after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race and Harris became the likely Democratic presidential nominee, highlights the strengths and weaknesses that different politicians could bring to the ticket — and the challenges they could face if selected.

Vice President Kamala Harris will remain in Houston Thursday to give a eulogy at a service for former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas), who died from cancer last month.

Harris arrived in Houston Wednesday to speak to the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., one of the "Divine Nine" historically Black fraternities and sororities.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity at an event for Black journalists that was part of a whirlwind day of campaigning that also saw him return to Pennsylvania for the first time since surviving an assassination attempt in the state two weeks ago.

“She was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went — she became a Black person,” Trump said of Harris, whose mother emigrated from India and whose father emigrated from Jamaica. “I think somebody should look into that.”

Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump’s false assertions about her race were the “same old show” as she emphasized the need for Black women to organize for his defeat this November.

Addressing the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. — one of "Divine Nine" historically Black fraternities and sororities — in Houston, Harris told the crowd, "When I look out at everyone here, I see family.”