Kamala Harris becomes first woman of color to secure a major party presidential nomination; Cherelle Parker video promoting Josh Shapiro as VP pick prompts confusion

'The Avengers' actor and high-profile environmentalist Mark Ruffalo is highlighting a letter from Pennsylvanians and grassroots environmental groups that urges Vice President Kamala Harris to remove Gov. Josh Shapiro from consideration to be her running mate in a post on X Friday evening, citing what the residents call Shapiro's "detrimental" handling of a contaminated water crisis in Dimock, Pa. when he was state attorney general.

Ruffalo is urging the Harris campaign to read the letter addressed to the vice president and her team alleging that Shapiro's AG office did not provide the "bulk" water supply promised to Dimock residents while they were awaiting a water pipeline to be built — an agreed upon remedy to the community's water contaminated by fracking and oiling drilling.

"The Governor and his Administration have been working aggressively to make good on these commitments and continue delivering for the people of Dimock," wrote Manuel Bonder, a Shapiro spokesperson, in a statement. "Governor Shapiro will never forget the people of Dimock — and he has been working diligently alongside the Public Utilities Commission to ensure the public water line he secured gets built as quickly as possible."

After fending off vice presidential speculation at a Friday press conference at Cheyney University, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro hustled from the reception area to a basement library to film a video touting his education initiatives. His cameras were already waiting.

Unfortunately for Shapiro, there was a drumline playing upstairs that the school had invited. His aides dispatched someone to shut it down, but time was running short. A call was made to move the production outside before the aide even returned.

As soon as the cameras were hot, Shapiro rattled off his lines, no notes. Filming was done within a minute.

When Vice President Kamala Harris appears for the first time with her running mate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro said he hopes and plans to be in attendance.

But it’s still unclear what his role will be at that event.

Shapiro, a finalist to be Harris’ running mate, again on Friday declined to comment on whether he had participated in the vetting process or whether he had plans to meet with Harris this weekend. He has consistently dodged the questions about whether he wants the job, adding that it’s a “deeply personal decision” for Harris.

The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Friday called on Gov. Josh Shapiro to apologize for what they described as “racist remarks” in a decades-old opinion article he wrote as a college student.

"We are deeply disturbed by the racist, anti-Palestinian views that Governor Shapiro expressed in this article,” CAIR-Philadelphia executive director Ahmet Tekelioglu said in a statement. “We are also concerned by his failure to clearly apologize for those hateful comments, especially given how quickly and harshly he has targeted college students protesting the Gaza genocide for their speech.”

The Inquirer on Friday reported on the 1993 article, titled “Peace not possible,” which appeared in the Campus Times at the University of Rochester, where Shapiro attended school. In the article, Shapiro wrote that peace “will never come” to the Middle East and expressed skepticism about the viability of a two-state solution, describing Palestinians as “too battle-minded” to coexist with Israel.

Did Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker just announce who Kamala Harris’ running mate will be?

As it turns out, no.

Parker on Friday released a video on social media that encourages voters to support “Kamala Harris for president” and “Josh Shapiro for vice president.”

Temple University President Richard Englert confirmed in a message to the university community that Vice President Kamala Harris will hold a campaign rally at the Liacouras Center on Tuesday.

The public university — which Englert says has a "policy of making appropriate spaces available for rent to third-party organizations...regardless of their political party or stance — is not covering any costs associated with the event. The Liacouras Center is also managed and operated by a third-party firm.

"Temple is committed to protecting the First Amendment including freedom of speech and assembly," Englert wrote. "This means that Temple fosters an environment open to a diversity of thought, opinion and peaceful expression."

Vice President Kamala Harris had secured enough votes from Democratic delegates to officially be the party's nominee for president, Democratic National Committee Chair Jamie Harrison said Friday.

The online voting process doesn’t end until Monday, but the campaign marked the moment when she crossed the threshold to have the majority of delegates’ votes.

Harris is poised to be the first woman of color at the top of a major party’s ticket.

Gov. Josh Shapiro continued on Friday to decline to answer questions about whether he would meet with Vice President Kamala Harris or if he would accept the job, as Harris nears making her final decision.

Shapiro, who met with Harris’ staff earlier this week, would not say whether he would be meeting with Harris. Harris is scheduled to complete the final interviews for her running mate this weekend.

Shapiro canceled several fundraisers in the Hamptons this weekend, because his “schedule has changed,” a spokesperson said on Thursday.

Gov. Josh Shapiro doubled down that a column he wrote in 1993, in which he argued that peace “will never come” to the Middle East, no longer represents his beliefs.

The comments, first reported by The Inquirer, said he favors a “two-state solution” for Israelis and Palestinians.

In the opinion article, titled “Peace not possible,” the then-20-year-old Shapiro argued that Palestinians are “too battle-minded” to coexist with Israel and a two state-solution was unlikely.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said JD Vance, former President Donald Trump’s running mate, is “a phoney baloney” who “doesn’t know what he believes.

Shapiro, who is a front-runner to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, continued his attacks on Trump and Vance as the veepstakes continue. Harris is expected to unveil her pick by Tuesday at the latest in a Philadelphia rally at the Liacouras Center.

“That is why it is impossible for him to articulate a coherent message to the American people,” Shapiro said at a higher education news conference at Cheyney University. “It is clear that Donald Trump has buyer’s remorse with his pick.”

Former president Donald Trump weighed in on Vice President Kamala Harris' search for running mate Friday, saying in an interview on Fox Business that choosing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would cause her to "lose the Palestinian vote."

"I think if you pick Shapiro, who happens to be Jewish, she loses her little Palestinian base she has," Trump said. "Because they like me, because they think I'm going to bring peace to the Middle East, even though I'm very strong for Israel."

Shapiro, who is considered a top contender to be Harris' VP pick, has faced opposition from some pro-Palestinian groups over his views on the war in Gaza. Since Hamas attacked southern Israel in October, Shapiro has issued a number of statements of support for Israel, including calling for police to end a protest encampment at the University of Pennsylvania in May.

Following a news conference for PhilaWorks being funded $22.8 million, U.S. Sen Bob Casey (D., Pa.) said Gov. Josh Shapiro would be "ready to take the job" as Kamala Harris's vice president, citing Shapiro as a "great communicator who has shown through his work as governor that he "knows how to lead a big state on major initiatives."

"I think Josh is prepared right now not only to do the work of a candidate for vice president, but most importantly, I think he's prepared to do the job that he and Kamala Harris would be elected in," Casey said.

The possibility of Shapiro becoming Harris' running mate may leave Pennsylvanians who voted for him concerned over the governor leaving the state. But Casey said Shapiro's selection would be a "wonderful opportunity for the commonwealth" and a "source of pride" for his supporters.

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 political muscle. At the same, time state has forceful environmentalists pushing for renewable energy.

Harris’ original call for a ban came during a CNN town hall in 2019 when she said there is “no question I’m in favor of banning fracking and starting with what we can do on Day 1 around public lands.”

Vice President Kamala Harris’ first rally with her yet-to-be-named running mate will be at Temple University’s 10,000-seat basketball arena on Tuesday, according to a source with knowledge of the planning.

The rally at the Liacouras Center will be Harris’ first campaign stop in Philadelphia since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race. It will kick off a multistate campaign tour with her running mate, who is expected to be named in the coming days. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a native of the Philadephia suburbs, is among the front-runners for the nomination.

The event will also be the second time this summer that the Liacouras Center hosted a presidential rally. Former President Donald Trump held a campaign event there in June.

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.

Shapiro is one of at handful of VP finalists, who have spoken to the campaign, according to NBC News. Others include Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s campaign schedules are sparse Friday, as both candidates prepare for larger events over the weekend and next week.

Harris has no campaign event appearances scheduled Friday, bringing a break in a week that has brought the presumed Democratic presidential nominee to Atlanta and Houston. Harris was most recently slated to be in Houston Thursday to give a eulogy for former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas), who died from cancer July 19.

The lull in Harris’ schedule precedes what stands to be a busy next week, with the vice president slated to appear in Philadelphia at a rally Tuesday alongside her as-yet-unannounced running mate. A registration page for the event indicates it will run from 5 to 9 p.m., but no other details had yet been announced early Thursday afternoon.

Josh Shapiro was under pressure to run for reelection.

It was 1993 and, at 19 years old, Shapiro was one of the youngest-ever student body presidents at the University of Rochester.

One dean of students at the upstate New York school told the student newspaper, the Campus Times, that Shapiro was the “most effective student leader” he’d ever worked with. Another said Shapiro “set a new standard.”