Josh Shapiro meets with Kamala Harris campaign amid VP search; Donald Trump doubles-down after falsely questioning if Harris is Black

The United Auto Workers endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president Wednesday, but union president Shawn Fain has taken issue with one of the top contenders to be her running mate — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Shapiro's stance on taxpayer-funded private school vouchers is a "big issue," Fain told The Detroit News in an interview Thursday. School vouchers, which give parents state funding to send their children to private school, are an issue Shapiro has agreed to compromise with Republicans on since becoming governor.

"We all know what the voucher system is," Fain told The Detroit News. "It's a system where the rich people can have the taxpayers fund their kids' private education."

This week, Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been doing damage control for statements she made in 2019 in support of a ban on hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking.

Politicians seeking votes in Pennsylvania have to stake middle ground on fracking, a method of drilling horizontally through shale to tap pockets of natural gas. Harris’ flip-flop is emblematic of the treacherous path Democrats tread in Pennsylvania where the fossil fuel industry flexes economic and politic muscle. At the same, time state has forceful environmentalists pushing for renewable energy.

Harris’ original call for a ban came during a CNN town hall in 2019 when she said there is, “no question I’m in favor of banning fracking, and starting with what we can do on Day 1 around public lands.”

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro canceled several fundraisers in the Hamptons this weekend, as he remains a top contender for Kamala Harris to choose as her running mate, a spokesperson confirmed.

“The Governor’s trip was planned several weeks ago and included several fundraisers for his own campaign committee,” said Manuel Bonder, Shapiro’s press secretary, in a statement. “His schedule has changed and he is no longer traveling to the Hamptons this weekend.”

Shapiro, the first-term Democratic governor of the critical battleground state, met with Harris’ campaign as part of the vetting process to choose a vice presidential candidate, as previously reported by The Inquirer. He has neither confirmed nor denied his interest in the role, and continues to avoid questions about whether he’s been vetted.

Gov. Josh Shapiro has met with Kamala Harris' campaign as the vetting process for vice presidential candidates continues, two people familiar with the process told The Inquirer.

Shapiro met with the campaign Wednesday, according to the sources, who did not know if the meetings were in person or virtual. The meeting was first reported by Bloomberg.

Shapiro is one of at handful of VP finalists, who have spoken to the campaign, according to NBC News. Others include Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.

Former President Donald Trump is doubling-down on controversial remarks about Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity.

In a post on Truth Social Thursday, Trump shared an undated photo of Harris wearing a Sari with her mother’s side of the family, who are from India.

“Thank you Kamala for the nice picture you sent from many years ago! Your warmth, friendship, and love of your Indian Heritage are very much appreciated,” Trump wrote.

Former President Donald Trump's interview at a panel hosted by the National Association for Black Journalists devolved into a tirade full of insults.

He berated moderator and ABC reporter Rachel Scott and made false attacks about Vice President Kamala Harris's race. Now, as footage from the panel spreads across TV and social media, politicians and public figures are speaking out against the Republican presidential candidate — including members of his own party.

Here's what figures have said so far:

A day after Donald Trump’s inflammatory remarks on Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity, Philadelphia Democrats and labor leaders on Wednesday criticized the former president for saying Harris at some point “happened to turn Black.”

Harris, whose mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican, has publicly embraced both identities. She attended Howard University, a historically Black university, and is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, a Black sorority.

Trump, however, appears to be attempting to emphasize Harris' Indian heritage to undermine her popularity among Black voters, who will be critical in swing states like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Georgia.

Voting for the Democratic presidential nominee began Thursday morning with a virtual roll call, and Vice President Kamala Harris is the only candidate who has qualified.

Harris is uncontested after securing the support of enough delegates to secure the nomination, making her the Democrat’s official candidate taking on Republican nominee Donald Trump. That includes Pennsylvania’s 159 delegates, who voted unanimously to back Harris last month. 

Electronic voting began Thursday at 9 a.m. and will remain open until Monday at 6 p.m. Harris needs 1,976 votes to secure the nomination. 

As Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to announce her running mate, a new poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that several of the top contenders for the role are largely unknown to Americans. Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly stands out as one with more name recognition and higher favorability, particularly among Democrats.

The survey, which was conducted after President Joe Biden announced he was withdrawing from the race and Harris became the likely Democratic presidential nominee, highlights the strengths and weaknesses that different politicians could bring to the ticket — and the challenges they could face if selected.

Kelly, while better known and liked than some of the alternatives, is still unfamiliar to about half of Americans. And others, like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, while less known nationally, could draw on a deeper well of support in their home states and regions. Kelly and Shapiro are viewed among the front-runners, according to people familiar with the process, after the Harris campaign began its vetting with about a dozen names.

Vice President Kamala Harris will remain in Houston Thursday to give a eulogy at a service for former U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D., Texas), who died from cancer last month.

Harris arrived in Houston Wednesday to speak to the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc., one of the "Divine Nine" historically Black fraternities and sororities.

Former President Donald Trump has no events listed on his public schedule today. He's slated to appear at a rally alongside his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, in Atlanta Saturday.

Former President Donald Trump on Wednesday questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ racial identity at an event for Black journalists that was part of a whirlwind day of campaigning that also saw him return to Pennsylvania for the first time since surviving an assassination attempt in the state two weeks ago.

“She was Indian all the way and then all of a sudden she made a turn and she went — she became a Black person,” Trump said of Harris, whose mother emigrated from India and whose father emigrated from Jamaica. “I think somebody should look into that.”

The comments were part of a combative exchange between Trump and the moderators at a conference of the National Association of Black Journalists. They were the latest in a long line of offensive and racist remarks that have defined his political career, including when he made his first foray into national politics nearly 15 years ago by falsely suggesting then-President Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday that former President Donald Trump’s false assertions about her race were the “same old show” as she emphasized the need for Black women to organize for his defeat this November.

Addressing the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc. — one of "Divine Nine" historically Black fraternities and sororities — in Houston, Harris told the crowd, "When I look out at everyone here, I see family.”

She drew knowing chuckles from the audience as she mentioned Trump's comments earlier in the day at the annual meeting of the National Association of Black Journalists. Trump said Harris, the first Black woman and Asian American to serve as vice president, had in the past promoted only her Indian heritage.