When Josh Shapiro was sworn in last year on a stack of three Hebrew Bibles, he became the third Jewish governor in Pennsylvania’s history.
Now, the Jewish day school graduate might become the second Jew ever nominated for vice president by a major party.
Shapiro, 51, a Democrat who projects a clean-cut image and has gained a local reputation as a moderate, is reportedly one of two leading contenders on Kamala Harris’ shortlist of potential running mates. The other presumed finalist is Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, is Jewish.
If Shapiro is selected, it would be the latest step in a steep political ascent. He has risen from local office to statewide positions where he has gained national attention for investigating abuse in the Catholic Church, his response to Donald Trump’s attempted assassination and more. Throughout that time, he has also stayed involved in his Philadelphia-area Jewish community, where he sends his children to the same Jewish school he attended.
“You’ve heard me quote my scripture before, that no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it, meaning each of us has a responsibility to get off the sidelines, to get in the game and to do our part,” Shapiro said in his 2022 victory speech upon being elected governor, quoting from the Jewish ethical text Pirkei Avot.
Shapiro was involved in politics from a young age, participating in the Soviet Jewry movement by starting a pen pal program with Soviet Jewish teens. He graduated from a school that merged into what is now Perelman Jewish Day School, in addition to what is now the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a community high school where he met his wife Lori.
They sent their four children — Sophia, Jonah, Max, and Reuben — to the schools, and Shapiro has returned to speak, including in the heat of campaigning. Sophia has also taken an active role supporting her father’s campaign, running Students for Shapiro.
The family attends the Conservative Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, Shapiro’s childhood synagogue, which is famous for having a building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
He also has a record as a vocal supporter of Israel at a time when Harris has faced criticism from pro-Israel activists. In response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, which sparked the ongoing war, he mentioned the “many special moments in Israel” that his family had experienced. And he has taken university leadership in his state to task for threats to Jewish students on their campuses. He also called out an anti-Israel protest that targeted a kosher Philadelphia restaurant, Goldie.
“What they did was blatant antisemitism,” he said at the time. “They protested in restaurants, simply because it’s owned by a Jewish person. That is the kind of antisemitic tropes that we saw in 1930s Germany.”
Shapiro was first elected to state legislature in 2004, where he gained a bipartisan image by helping install a moderate Republican as speaker of a divided chamber. He was elected state attorney general in 2016, beating a Republican the same year Hillary Clinton lost the state (and the election) to Donald Trump.
In 2018, Shapiro gained global prominence for publishing an 18-month investigation that accused hundreds of Catholic priests of sexual abuse and charged the church with a “systematic cover-up.” He was back in the headlines two years later for his efforts to ensure an accurate vote count in the 2020 election despite efforts by Trump, the incumbent, to stymie the tally. That year, he won his reelection, and Trump lost.
When he ran for governor in 2022, Shapiro was up against Republican Doug Mastriano, who allied with the antisemitic founder of the far-right social network Gab and mocked Shapiro’s Jewish day school. Shapiro also centered his Jewishness in the campaign, running an ad highlighting his family’s Shabbat observance. At his inauguration, one of the Bibles he used in the oath of office came from the site of the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting.
Now that his name is being floated for the Democratic ticket, fears of antisemitism have resurfaced. This week CNN anchor John King said, “He’s a first-term governor, he’s Jewish, there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket.”
The remark sparked backlash, but it isn’t the first time journalists have taken note of the possible pushback against a Jewish candidate. Former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s running mate on the Democratic ticket in 2000, wrote in a 2003 book that he contended with the same concerns — and brushed them off.
“I wanted to be who I am, and prayer and faith are at the center of my life and of my family’s life,” wrote Lieberman, who was religiously observant and who died this year. “The same is true of many Americans, and I have never understood why some people feel that when you go into public life you lose the freedom to talk about your faith.”
Shapiro’s moderate bent has also recently drawn praise and criticism. After the attempted assassination of Trump earlier this month in his state, Shapiro won plaudits from Republicans and Democrats for his response, including calling the family of the man who was killed, Corey Comperatore, and praising him publicly as a “hero.”
“This has been a tough few days for our commonwealth,” Dave McCormick, the Republican Pennsylvania Senate candidate, tweeted. “Grateful to @JoshShapiroPA for his strength and leadership following the tragedy in Butler on Saturday.”
Shapiro has also raised eyebrows for another position related to his own personal experience: He supported a Republican proposal to fund $100 million in vouchers for private school parents, something many Democrats opposed. Shapiro withdrew his support following backlash from his own party, and the issue has come up again as his name entered the headlines this week.
“The idea that Dems are vetting PA governor Josh Shapiro is evidence of how out of touch the party is with the historical moment,” former journalist Heidi Moore tweeted. “For Kamala to pick a throwback Boomer-style West Wing liberal neocon like Shapiro who is cold, rigid and unlikeable will hurt her image — and her votes — considerably.”
But Shapiro’s moderate image has also given him higher approval ratings in his state than Biden. And he’s got a fan club in his Jewish community back home.
“I would love to see him as the first Jewish president of the United States,” Sharon Levin, who taught Shapiro in high school before becoming head of school, told JTA in 2018. “I and everyone else here would sign onto his campaign.”
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