Gov. Josh Shapiro has faced the most scrutiny of any VP contender. Here’s why.

The high-stakes battle to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate is the latest demonstration of deep ideological fault lines in the Democratic Party, and no contender for the nomination has borne the brunt of it like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Over the last two weeks, Shapiro — a political moderate with a high approval rating in this critical swing state — has been the target of a decentralized opposition campaign. It’s led largely by progressives who disagree with the governor’s statements about the conflict in the Middle East, his embrace of private-school vouchers, and his office’s handling of a sexual harassment complaint against a former aide.

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At the same time, Shapiro enjoys strong support from establishment-aligned Democrats across the state who are loudly advocating for his selection, and a handful of top Republicans have said they fear Shapiro most out of the rumored contenders. Some strategists say scrutiny from the left strengthens Shapiro’s appeal with moderates.

“Governor Shapiro has faced the most criticism of the finalists because he’s perceived as the front-runner to get the nomination, based on his deep popularity in the state that is more-or-less essential to the vice president’s prospects of winning the election,” Democratic consultant J.J. Balaban said.

But Balaban said he doubts the criticism becomes the deciding factor.

”The Harris campaign is likelier to be influenced by Josh’s high job approval ratings than the grousing of some malcontents on Twitter,” he added.

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The opposition continued Monday, when 22 local progressive organizations and Muslim advocacy groups called on Shapiro to apologize for what they described as “extremely bigoted” language in a 1993 op-ed in his college newspaper. In the article, which The Inquirer reported on Friday, a then-20-year-old Shapiro described Palestinians as “too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.”

On Friday, Shapiro emphasized that he was 20 when he wrote the article, and said he has for years supported a two-state solution. That did not assuage the coalition of organizations, which said Monday that Shapiro must “rebuild trust with Palestinian and Arab Pennsylvanians.”

Justin Marshall, a lead organizer of IfNotNow Philly, a progressive Jewish group, said applying pressure to Shapiro is about creating “the strongest possible coalition we can to defeat Donald Trump.”

“If Shapiro does get picked for the nomination,” Marshall said, “it becomes all the more important for him to clearly apologize for what he wrote.”

Through the last week, Shapiro drew scrutiny from the National Women’s Defense League over his handling of a sexual harassment complaint against his former legislative liaison last year. There was also a resurgence of interest in his tenure as attorney general, especially a controversial 2011 case of a Philadelphia teacher whose death by 20 stab wounds was ruled a suicide and that his office later reviewed.

And over the weekend, Politico reported that one of Shapiro’s fellow top Democrats in the state — U.S. Sen. John Fetterman — is concerned that Shapiro could be the nominee. His advisers reportedly conveyed to Harris’ team that Shapiro is too focused on his advancing his own career, and that Fetterman and Shapiro have had critical disagreements on criminal-justice matters.

Shapiro is considered to be among the top three contenders for the vice presidential nomination, and Harris is expected to announce her decision at some point before a Tuesday evening rally in Philadelphia, which will kick off a multistate tour with her running mate.

» READ MORE: Josh Shapiro has built a social media machine. Can he ride TikTok to the vice presidency?

Last week, Shapiro defended his record, saying, “I recognize that at this moment, in probably every moment in my life, folks are judging me from the outside.”

“It’s part of the business,” he said. “I’m most comfortable with every decision I made that it’s always been about service.”

The rancor around Shapiro may be, in part, because the public didn’t get to debate Harris’ nomination after President Joe Biden dropped out given the accelerated timeline, said Berwood Yost, the director of the Franklin and Marshall College poll.

”They had to coalesce quickly,” Yost said. “In some ways, is this a stand-in for the fight you would’ve seen in the primary?”

Still, two others whom Harris reportedly interviewed for the job, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, are considered moderates but have not faced as much pushback. Labor leaders expressed some concern about Kelly, who would not cosponsor a piece of pro-labor legislation (but said this week he would vote for it).

And Walz has become a favorite among progressives. In Minnesota, his supporters have taken to calling the sudden attention on him “Walz-mentum.”

”He’s successfully threaded the needle of being liberal enough for the liberals and moderate enough for the moderates,” Marty Seifert, a former gubernatorial candidate and Republican legislator from southern Minnesota told the Star-Tribune.

Some have suggested that opposition to Shapiro, particularly over his views on the war in Gaza, is rooted in antisemitism. If elected, Shapiro would be the first-ever Jewish vice president. While he’s been an outspoken supporter of Israel, he has assailed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his policy positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict are largely in line with Kelly’s and Walz’s.

State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, a Lehigh County Democrat who is Jewish, said it’s not inherently antisemitic to criticize a Jewish politician or their stances on Israel.

“Where I think you do have members of the extreme, ultra left hewing into antisemitism,” he said, “is when you have them applying different standards to Governor Shapiro than non-Jewish candidates.”

Political strategists said the focus on Shapiro from left-wing organizations lends credence to the notion that he’d be a smart pick. The governor could bring ideological balance to the ticket, given Harris is seen as more progressive than Biden and hails from deep-blue California.

Some Republicans, especially in Pennsylvania, have said Shapiro’s popularity in Pennsylvania and his reputation as a bipartisan dealmaker could make it harder for former President Donald Trump to win the state. His support of Israel, they said, could appeal to independents and moderates.

Shapiro has also garnered significant support among party leaders, some of which was shored by his own team.

Top Democrats across Pennsylvania are loudly lobbying for Shapiro. And, following opposition from national education groups over his support of private-school vouchers, Shapiro won endorsements from 50 Pennsylvania labor unions, including two of the state’s largest teachers’ unions. Shapiro’s top aides asked at least three unions to join the letter.

“The issues that have caused different groups to publicly oppose [Shapiro] are the same issues that are going to make him more attractive to independent and never-Trump voters,” longtime ally and public-affairs executive Larry Ceisler said. “The people who are making the case against him are making, unwillingly, the best case for him.”

A national Democratic strategist, who requested anonymity because to avoid publicly criticizing a candidate, agreed the scrutiny of Shapiro is more intense because he is seen as the front-runner. But Harris’ campaign could be thinking ahead to the Chicago convention later this month and whether tensions related to the war in Gaza could draw protests.

Still, the strategist noted Harris’ campaign has been running more confidently than her 2020 campaign, which was faulted for indecision and attempts to please all sides.

”The old Kamala Harris might have fallen prey to that,” the strategist said.

Ultimately, the decision will also factor in personal chemistry, Balaban said.

“The public criticism is unlikely to play a major role in this decision,” he added, “particularly since all of the chatter about the three leading Democratic VP choices pales in comparison to the flood of negative attention garnered by JD Vance since he was announced as Trump’s choice for vice president.”