Why Not Josh?

Coming in second for the second spot on the Democratic ticket may be a mixed blessing for Josh Shapiro.

Passed over: The consensus is that a key factor in Shapiro not being chosen was that his views on Israel would be a distraction to the campaign.

I didn’t realize how much I was rooting for Josh Shapiro to win the Democratic vice-presidential sweepstakes until I learned that Kamala Harris had chosen Tim Walz. 

It would be a shame if Shapiro, 51, the highly popular governor of Pennsylvania, was passed over because he is a proud and observant Jew and/or “too pro-Israel” in his forthright support for the Jewish state. But I guess we’ll never know the full story. 

Like many Jews, I felt pride in Shapiro being a serious and highly admired potential veep candidate. But I was also concerned for his personal security and for our community. That’s a sad statement but it’s the reality today, a time when the level of anti-Semitism in this country is beyond what any of us had imagined possible, when Zionists are openly demonized, and when the recent Trump assassination attempt underscored the angry, volatile mood in our society.

It’s also sad to note that 24 years after the late Sen. Joe Lieberman became the first Jew to run on a presidential ticket of a major party, and campaigned around the country with virtually no trace of anti-Semitism, we have regressed to this point of rampant Jew-hatred.

Jews have a long history of worrying, with good reason, about what others think of us. After centuries of persecution and pogroms, it may be in our DNA. “Show us a silver lining and we look for the cloud,” goes an old saying. But there was legitimate reason to worry about the aggressive, pro-Palestinian social media campaign that labeled Shapiro “Genocide Josh” and tried to keep him off the ticket. And it wasn’t paranoia that had some Jewish Democrats, including big fans of Shapiro, fearing that the Pennsylvania governor’s support for Israel and criticism of pro-Palestinian campus protests would upset progressives and  hurt Harris’s chances in November.

“I’m breathing a sigh of relief right now,” wrote Forward columnist Jay Michaelson. He praised Shapiro as “a brilliant, talented politician who would have made an excellent vice president – and maybe will someday.” But he said he “dreaded” the prospect of the governor’s views on Israel becoming a distraction, and worse, to progressives in the party.

I was hoping the selection of Shapiro would be an implicit statement that Harris was not going to give in to critics on the far left. In fact, though, progressives have become an increasingly dynamic and key segment of the Democratic party, with their views on Israel ranging  all the way from support for Israel’s right to defend itself to it being called an apartheid and genocidal state. 

J.D. Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, tried to stir the pot by saying Shapiro was not chosen so as not to upset “grassroots activists in the party,” a move he decried as “despicable” and “disgusting.” Countering that charge as “absurd,” Mark Mellman, president of Democratic Majority for Israel, pointed out that Harris, who is married to Doug Emhoff, a Jew, “has picked Jewish men before for important positions in her life.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) said “the idea that Kamala Harris is anti-Semitic is pathetically stupid,” and asked: “Was it anti-Hispanic bias for Trump to pass over Marco Rubio to choose the palpably unqualified J.D. Vance?”

One Jewish Democratic insider told me that since “the ticket” is thought of as consisting of the presidential and vice presidential nominees and their spouses, “three out of four Jews” – Emhoff and Josh and his wife, Lori, Shapiro – “might be just too much for some folks.” He said it with a laugh, but it gave me pause.

I had hoped that having Shapiro on board would moderate the ticket and that he could provide Harris with a more nuanced view of Israel’s complex struggle to remain both a Jewish and democratic state, prepared to cooperate with neighbors who recognize the right of Jews to have a sovereign state – but unwilling to abide by those committed to its destruction.

Of course the reason Harris picked Walz may simply be that she felt most comfortable with him as a running mate and potential No. 2 person in the White House. From what I’ve read, seen and heard, the Minnesota governor will make a first-rate candidate who shares many of the values, qualities and views of Josh Shapiro on a range of issues. What worries me, though, is that Walz and Harris, while voicing strong support for the U.S.-Israel alliance and Israel’s right to defend itself, seem more inclined to highlight the large number of casualties in Gaza rather than the need to rid Gaza of Hamas’s 17-year reign of terror, for the good of all, Arabs and Jews.

Josh Shapiro showed his character and Jewish pride at the Philadelphia rally for Harris and Walz on Tuesday. “I am proud of my faith,” he asserted with emphasis at the end of his rousing speech to the large, enthusiastic crowd. “I lean on my family and I lean on my faith, which calls me to serve.” He made reference to a famous passage in Pirkei Avot (the Ethics of the Fathers), noting: “My faith teaches me that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.”

Shapiro continues the task of serving the citizens of Pennsylvania and appears to have a bright future in the party. If the Democrats lose the White House in November, he may well be a leading contender for the nation’s top office four years from now – though he’ll still be Jewish.