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Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is reportedly in the final stages of picking a running mate. Unfortunately, the best pick—by which I mean the most progressive pick—is being denounced by progressives in the most self-defeating way. Josh Shapiro, the wildly popular governor of swing state Pennsylvania, is one of the frontrunners, and yet progressives have started a campaign against him over his position on Israel.
My fellow progressives: It's got to stop. Josh Shapiro is the progressive pick.
Why?
Wall Street banks make an intense amount of money by running the pension funds in many different states. They view the state employees who run those funds as suckers and charge exorbitant fees for mediocre results. Shapiro put an end to that when he was the Chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. He also took on predatory lenders when he was Attorney General of Pennsylvania. Those lenders were the subsidiary of an enormous private equity company, Warburg Pincus.
If I didn't tell you who was behind that move, you might have guessed that the politician I was describing was Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders. You would have guessed that because you can count on one hand the number of Democrats willing to take on giant corporate power and companies that could be potential donors. Economic populism is enormously popular with the voters, but almost no politician in the country does it, because it makes the donors very, very angry.
In fact, I'm worried about writing this editorial for fear of tipping them off. For all they know, Shapiro is an establishment Democrat—especially now that now he's being accused by the progressive Left of being one of the least progressive Democrats because of his position on Israel. It's likely the donor class has no idea how progressive he might actually be.
So, is he a monstrous right-winger on Israel?
Not at all. His position on Israel is correct, though his optics are terrible. Like all sane people, Shapiro supports a two-state solution and a free, independent Palestine. As for his support for Israel, consider his remarks about its leader: "I personally believe Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the worst leaders of all time," Shapiro said in January, months before Chuck Schumer came out against Netanyahu. I couldn't agree more—and Shapiro was ahead of the curve in pointing this out. That was also about the same time Bernie Sanders was still calling for a "humanitarian pause" in Gaza instead of a ceasefire. It took three more months for Sen. Sanders to call Netanyahu an "awful, awful leader." When did Shapiro first call Netanyahu a "terrible leader"? Back in November of last year, well before almost any other major politician.
It's true that Gov. Shapiro has been a reactionary about campus protests against Israel. He came out strongly against them, saying we wouldn't tolerate "people dressed up in KKK outfits." Then he instituted a dumb executive order calling for state employees who protest in a "scandalous or disgraceful" way to be fired. No doubt anything that criticizes Israel would have qualified, though we never got to find out; by that time, all the protests against Israel had been disbanded and the students arrested.
But the pro list is much longer than this one con. Governor Shapiro also busted the pedophiles inside the Catholic Church. Do you know how much courage it takes to take on the Catholic Church when you're a Jewish politician? I respect that strength and moral clarity. Over 300 predator priests were outed. Countless children were saved.
Yes, he has frustrating positions, like his recent push to lower corporate taxes in his state and his advocacy for school vouchers. Yes, he's nowhere near ideal. But which Democrat is? Do you think Kamala Harris is going to change our position on Israel? Please don't tell me you're that naïve. And even if you think that, then great, you don't have to worry about Shapiro's position! He's not in charge, she is.
The reality is that almost all the Democrats do exactly what their donors order them to do (for Republicans, I would just take out the word "almost")—no matter what the issue is. So when I see someone who has defied the donors several times to help the average voter, I'm a little shocked. I think Tim Walz also has an excellent track record of doing this. But these are unicorns in modern American politics.
Republicans in Pennsylvania are incensed at how much Governor Shapiro is spending on the average citizen of their state. For them, corporate tax cuts aren't enough, you also have to take it from the common man! And Shapiro is refusing to do that.
Republicans in his state are deeply concerned that he'll be the vice-presidential nominee because they know how intensely popular he is. Right now, he's at 61 percent approval rating in a state that is perfectly split between the two parties. That is remarkable. He is 12 points higher than Kamala Harris and 15 points higher than Trump. There's a reason why he was able to do that: It's because he is strategic about how to deliver for the average voter while not raising the ire of the establishment.
It would be nice to have someone that bright in national office.
Finally, if you still say you can't stomach supporting a person who is indifferent to Muslim lives (while ignoring that Mark Kelly gave Benjamin Netanyahu endless standing ovations just days ago), you might find it interesting to know what Shapiro was doing in the first days of the Trump administration. He was busy fighting the Muslim ban.
I don't agree at all with his position on peace protesters, but he did something a little more significant than protest an attack against Muslims in this country. He helped defeat it.
For all these reasons, Josh Shapiro is an excellent progressive pick for VP. I hope Harris realizes it and isn't turned off by a misleading and misinformed campaign against him.
Cenk Uygur is the founder of TYT and host of The Young Turks.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
