Almost since the moment President Joe Biden endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to replace him at the top of the Democratic ticket this weekend, talk has swirled among pundits and cable TV personalities about whether Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro could be her running mate.
About the only person not willing to engage in such speculation — at least not publicly — is Josh Shapiro himself.
“That’s a deeply personal decision and a decision that should be made really free from any political pressure,” Shapiro told a clamorous group of reporters gathered Monday afternoon in an industrial shed on Neville Island.
“It’s a decision she needs to make — who she wants to govern with, who she wants to campaign with, and who can be there to serve alongside her.”
The stated purpose of the event Monday was to announce a nearly $400 million grant from the federal government to help encourage efforts to “decarbonize” Pennsylvania industry — to make construction and other businesses less reliant on fossil fuels by turning toward alternate energy sources and adopting more energy-efficient practices.
There were of course speeches about the Biden Administration’s investment in Pennsylvania: The grant announced Monday was, by Shapiro’s reckoning, the second-largest federal grant in state history. And while such events are a ritual of election-year politics, Biden’s departure from the race this weekend added an elegiac quality to some of the remarks.
“I’ve never been prouder than to work for President Joe Biden,” said Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan. “He has delivered on the most ambitious climate and environmental-justice agenda in United States history, and this administration will continue to do the work and sprint through the tape.”
But reporters pushed past all that, at their first opportunity shouting out questions about whether Shapiro would be on the national ballot this November.
“Are we not talking about concrete anymore?” Shapiro said wryly.
In all, Shapiro engaged in about 13 minutes of give-and-take with local and national reporters, who kept trying to phrase the same question differently in hopes of not getting shot down yet again.
Has the vice president discussed the possibility of serving as her running mate with you?
“I spoke to the vice president yesterday,” Shapiro said, but before journalistic pulses had time to quicken, he added, “Our conversation was all about how we beat Donald Trump and protect our freedoms here in this Commonwealth.”
Yesterday, in your statement, you said you would do anything to help Kamala Harris become our nation's next president. If she wants you on that ticket with her to do that, do you say yes?
“I’m not going to engage in those hypotheticals,” said Shapiro with the practiced ease of someone who has been considered a potential candidate for the White House since well before being elected governor in 2022.
Do you think you’re among the most qualified candidates?
“I’m not going to engage in that,” Shapiro answered. “The vice president … will make that determination going forward.”
You understand why we’re asking the question? Because you’re going to get this question posed to you.
“Listen, I’m just psyched y’all are here in Western PA,” Shapiro said. “I hope you stop by Eat’n Park. Get some cookies.”
After the event had wrapped up, Shapiro's press team notified reporters that he'd be picking up a few himself.
