It’s fair to wonder whether the mayor helped tank the governor’s bid in the course of trying to do the opposite.
Much will be written about how Josh Shapiro’s moderate stance on Israel was too much to bear for the hard Left and therefore may have been too much to bear for Kamala Harris — who went with Tim Walz instead as her VP pick.
But a presidential ticket is a partnership, and the two people sharing it need to connect with one another on some level and sense something approaching mutual trust. In this respect, Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich’s reporting today rings true:
Two sources confirm on background the deciding factor in the VP’s choice was what Sen Fetterman said publicly: concerns Shapiro’s his own personal ambitions would cause him to upstage/override Harris. The video Shapiro produced by Philly Mayor Cherelle Parker’s team solidified this sentiment on Friday.
UPDATE: Shapiro’s team was not aware Mayor Parker’s office had produced the video and there was no communication about its release between Parker and Shapiro’s teams ahead of time, a source familiar tells Fox.
The video in question hit social media on Friday and was interpreted initially by some as an inadvertently posted announcement of Shapiro’s selection as running mate until the mayor’s office pushed back, claiming it was merely an expression of support. The reason reporters thought that is because the video looks like an announcement. It featured Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker and other locals explicitly promoting “Kamala Harris for president” and “Josh Shapiro for vice president.”
Considering that we now know Harris’s mind was not made up at the time, and that reporting indicates there was a concern with Shapiro’s ambition which a slickly produced hype video would seem to validate, the decision to make that video in the first place is mind-boggling.
Politico reported a few hours ago that, apart from the video, the Pennsylvania governor’s style already rubbed some in Harris’s orbit the wrong way:
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, another finalist, avoided the green-room circuit and instead touted Harris and his own record at a series of events throughout the state. A pro-Harris event in Philadelphia turned into a Shapiro-for-VP party.
His style was seen by at least some in Harris’ world as showboating. One senior Democrat in touch with Harris’ team called it “counterproductive.”
Heinrich reports that Shapiro had nothing to do with the Philadelphia video. If that’s the case, it’s fair to wonder whether the mayor helped tank the governor’s bid in the course of trying to do the opposite.