Gov. Josh Shapiro told Democrats at their national convention in Chicago Wednesday night their party is the true defender of America’s freedoms — not the Republican party.
Shapiro was a finalist to be the Democratic candidate for vice president. And he received a prime speaking spot, later than former President Bill Clinton and Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, and just before Oprah Winfrey.
During a speech that lasted more than five minutes, Shapiro expressed vehement disagreement with former President Donald Trump’s attempts to portray himself as the candidate defending America’s freedoms.
“It's not freedom to tell our children what books they're allowed to read. No it's not,” he said. “And it's not freedom to tell women what they can do with their bodies.”
Instead, Shapiro said, Democrats are defending the real freedoms that matter, including good schools and safe neighborhoods each child needs to thrive.
“Real freedom… comes when she can join a union, marry who she loves, start a family on her own terms, breathe clean air, drink pure water, worship how she wants and live a life of purpose where she is respected for who she is,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro began his speech by hearkening back to the historic role Philadelphia played in the American independence effort — a place he believes will be critical to winning the 2024 election.
Shapiro’s speech was echoed by the keynote speaker, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz, who championed his record providing funding for school breakfasts and lunch. “While other states were banning books from their schools, we were banishing hunger from ours,” he said.
Earlier in the week, Shapiro parried comments by former President Donald Trump, who said Shapiro was passed over for Harris’ running mate because of antisemitism among Democrats. Instead Shapiro said Kamala Harris’ choice of Tim Walz was a deeply personal decision, not one driven by antisemitism.
He told Politico at one of the many convention events that Trump himself is guilty of antisemitism. “We’ve got to stand up and speak out against that, we can never condone — racism, homophobia, any form of hatred and bigotry,” Shapiro said. “By the way, the number one guy who pushes these types of tropes into our politics is Donald Trump, and so we’ve got to speak out against that.”
At the same event he tried to diffuse rumored tensions with Senator John Fetterman, whose staff members reportedly campaigned against Shapiro’s receiving of the nomination.
Shapiro’s advice for Harris as she both starts her campaign and hits the home stretch was to keep counterpunching whenever Trump goes on the attack.
“Just keep moving. Absorb it.
“Keep moving forward. Stay on offense,” he said at the Politico event.
