Why the thought of Josh Shapiro as Kamala Harris’ VP nominee is making the Pa. GOP nervous

As a growing group of Pennsylvania Democrats mount an aggressive campaign for Gov. Josh Shapiro to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Republicans in the state are watching warily.

“In what we know is gonna be a close race, I don’t think anyone wants to see Shapiro on the ticket,” said one high-ranking Republican from Pennsylvania who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Republicans nationally have indicated they see Shapiro, a first-term governor from a critical state, as Harris’ strongest vice presidential contender.

In Pennsylvania, a dozen Republicans interviewed largely agreed Shapiro was the Democrats’ best choice. They privately projected some fear he could make it harder for former President Donald Trump to win the state and publicly were trying to wave Shapiro off of the idea.

“Of the people she could possibly pick, he would be the one that makes it the most challenging because that’s a name that people are familiar with,” said Bill Bretz, the GOP chair in Westmoreland County.

U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.), a Trump ally, also acknowledged Shapiro could be helpful to Harris in Pennsylvania, though he stressed vice presidents have not historically shifted the balance of elections and reiterated he still thinks Trump will carry the state.

“It may honestly help some, if in fact he wanted to connect and line up and be part of what I think will be a losing campaign,” said Meuser, whose district stretches from Berks County to the New York border.

Part of Shapiro’s appeal beyond his popularity in the key battleground state is the possibility he could pull in more moderate voters and even some Republicans, which he has done in all three of his previous statewide campaigns.

He’s prioritized bipartisanship throughout his career and proudly touts being the only governor in a state with a divided legislature. He would also replace at least a touch of Pennsylvania that had been on the ballot with President Joe Biden, who grew up in Scranton and often jokingly referred to himself as the state’s third senator while he served in Delaware.

“There’s no state where trading out Joe Biden for Kamala Harris is more detrimental than Pennsylvania,” said Republican strategist Guy Ciarrocchi.

“If you switch out the blue-collar, ‘I was born in Scranton and everybody call me Joe,’ and you replace him with someone who people don’t know as well, who’s from California, who doesn’t really share that working-class background, you want a running mate who helps with that,” Ciarrocchi said.

Shapiro has been campaigning for Harris around the state in recent days with a Monday event scheduled in Montgomery County, where he launched his political career.

Hope Danoff, a Republican organizer from Bryn Mawr, said she worried Shapiro on the ticket would help Democrats in his home state and nationwide. She pointed to his full-throated support for Israel as one of the reasons.

”I think he’s gonna make it a lot tighter,” Danoff said at a GOP office opening in Montgomery County. “He’s Jewish. He’s pro-Israel. I think that appeals to a lot of moderates and independents.”

A Fox News poll of Pennsylvania, released Friday, found that Shapiro was viewed favorably by 61% of respondents, compared to 49% favorable for Harris and 46% favorable for Trump. The poll also found that Shapiro would lead Trump by 10 points in a hypothetical matchup.

The poll found that Trump and Harris were deadlocked at 49%.

Several Republicans responded to questions about whether Shapiro could make it harder for Trump to win in Pennsylvania by sharing advice for the governor — and trying to caution him against the move.

“If I was advising him I wouldn’t get involved in this race,” Bretz said. “If I’m Josh Shapiro, and I know he has presidential aspirations … I’m not sure I’m hitching my wagon to this ticket.”

Meuser said Shapiro would face attacks related to the border, taxes, government regulations, and “an assault on domestic energy.”

Harris supported a fracking ban as a candidate in the 2020 Democratic primary, a position she walked back after becoming Biden’s running mate, according to Axios.

“So if he wants to be part of that, then in many ways that’s not the Josh Shapiro that presents himself as governor,” Meuser said.

Sam DeMarco III, the Allegheny County GOP chair, said he questions whether Shapiro, who has built a brand as a moderate Democrat, would want to align himself with Harris, who was once ranked the nation’s “most liberal senator.” (Harris got the ranking in 2019. Shortly after, the group GovTrack.us, which did the ranking, ended it determining a single year did not provide a reliable portrait of ideology.)

DeMarco conceded that having Shapiro on the ticket — as a popular swing-state governor — could increase support for the Democratic ticket here. And he noted his skill as a speaker and campaigner.

”I’m concerned it just might help them in turnout here in Pennsylvania, getting the Democrats — who I believe would be lacking in enthusiasm — a boost here,” DeMarco added. ”But at the end of the day, voters vote for the name at the top of the ticket.”

The tenor of more muted criticism shows how Shapiro has managed to develop relationships with some Republicans in the state.

“Of course the Harris team is looking at Governor Shapiro for the VP role,” said Jim Schultz, a Republican who was general counsel to former Pennsylvania Republican Gov. Tom Corbett and whom Shapiro appointed to run the Delaware River Port Authority.

“[Harris’] anti-fracking and anti-gas industry positions make her particularly vulnerable here. To put a moderate, pro-energy, three-time statewide winner from a must-win swing state [on the ballot] would be a smart move.”

A Republican consultant who has worked on Pennsylvania campaigns said one of Shapiro’s strengths is that despite having many liberal positions, he comes across as largely “nonthreatening” to many Republican voters.

The consultant said the GOP was at least in part to blame for Shapiro’s rise, given that the party nominated a weak candidate, State Sen. Doug Mastriano, in the governor’s race.

Shapiro won decisively. ”It’s all failures of the Pennsylvania Republican Party,” the consultant said.

Staff writers Andrew Seidman, Katie Bernard, and Gillian McGoldrick contributed to this article.