Kamala Harris VP pick expected imminently, Josh Shapiro arrives in Harrisburg; JD Vance traveling to Philly

Political science research is clear: If you’re looking to carry a state’s electoral votes, it won’t help much to pick a vice presidential candidate from there.

Unless, just maybe, the state in question is Pennsylvania, which was decided by around a percentage point in each of the last two presidential elections — and which has a parochial political culture.

Kyle Kopko, an adjunct professor of political science at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, knows better than most. He and Chris Devine, who teaches at the University of Dayton, have written two books on the impact that vice presidential picks have on a campaign’s fortunes, including whether the veep pick gives the ticket a home state bump.

As a potential vice presidential candidate, Gov. Josh Shapiro has come under scrutiny for a review his office conducted of one of Philadelphia’s most perplexing death cases while he served as state attorney general.

Conspiracy theories swarmed online over the weekend about Shapiro’s involvement in reviewing the death of Ellen Greenberg. Greenberg, 27, died in her Manayunk apartment in 2011 by 20 stab wounds and the case was ruled a homicide, then switched to suicide.

For 13 years, Greenberg’s parents, Joshua and Sandra of Harrisburg, have fought to get the manner of their daughter’s death changed back to homicide or undetermined. They’ve amassed a cadre of forensic experts who’ve questioned the suicide ruling, as first detailed in a March 2019 Inquirer report.

The high-stakes battle to become Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate is the latest demonstration of deep ideological fault lines in the Democratic party, and no contender for the nomination has borne the brunt of it like Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Over the last two weeks, Shapiro — a political moderate with a high approval rating in this critical swing state — has been the target of a decentralized opposition campaign. It’s led largely by progressives who disagree with the governor’s statements about the conflict in the Middle East, his embrace of private-school vouchers, and his office’s handling of a sexual harassment complaint against a former aide.

At the same time, Shapiro enjoys strong support from establishment-aligned Democrats across the state who are loudly advocating for his selection, and a handful of top Republicans have said they fear Shapiro most out of the rumored contenders. Some strategists say scrutiny from the left strengthens Shapiro’s appeal with moderates.

Usha Vance says her husband’s “childless cat ladies comment” was “a quip made in service” of a bigger point the GOP vice presidential contender was trying to make about American political society, not a slight intended at U.S. citizens without children.

Sen. JD Vance’s wife made the comment Monday during an interview that aired on Fox News Channel’s “Fox and Friends.”

Usha Vance also noted that she helped her husband with his acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention, while she wrote hers without his assistance.

Ahead of Sen. JD Vance’s Tuesday visit to Philadelphia, the Trump campaign doubled down on messaging about immigration that has been central to the campaign.

Philadelphians have been uniquely impacted by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ policies at the border, the campaign alleged in a press release, adding that Democrats in Pennsylvania had “put out a welcome sign” for undocumented immigrants.

“They’ve even created ‘newcomer’ high schools for migrants,” the release said.

Sen. John Fetterman reportedly put a word in against Gov. Josh Shapiro as a potential running mate to Vice President Kamala Harris, bringing national attention to old tensions between the two Pennsylvania officials.

Fetterman and Shapiro have distinctly different styles, and have clashed publicly in the past.

Fetterman’s concerns about Shapiro as Harris’ second-in-command, were passed on to her team through his advisors, POLITICO reported. The Fetterman advisers suggested that the senator views Shapiro as overly focused on his own personal ambitions, according to the report.

The Pennsylvania Capitol Building was quiet Monday, as the state awaits whether its governor would be chosen as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate.

Members of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s staff trickling in and out of the governor’s office were mum about whether Shapiro had been told whether he’d be Harris’ pick. His chief of staff was seen outside on the governor’s balcony taking a phone call.

One woman, walking on her lunch break outside the Capitol building, jokingly asked reporters staking out the building, “You waiting to see our next VP?”

Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth Al Schmidt and four other secretaries of state are imploring Elon Musk to make changes to an artificial intelligence-powered feature on X that incorrectly suggested that Vice President Kamala Harris could not appear on the 2024 presidential ballot because certain deadlines had passed.

In a letter to X’s billionaire owner on Monday, Schmidt, along with the secretaries of state from Minnesota, Michigan, Washington, and New Mexico, wrote that within hours of President Joe Biden withdrawing his reelection bid on July 21, Grok, X’s AI search assistant, falsely stated that ballot deadlines for the presidential election in nine states, including Pennsylvania, had passed, implying incorrectly that changes could no longer to be made to ballots.

The information was then captured and shared in numerous posts on social media platforms, reaching millions of people, according to the letter. Grok continued to produce this false information until it was corrected on July 31.

As Vice President Kamala Harris weighs who to choose as her running mate in the presidential race, Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker on Monday reiterated her support for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to join the ticket.

"I'm a Philly girl through and through, and if the Eagles, the Phillies, the Flyers, the Sixers are in the playoffs, I'm rooting for the home team at all costs," Parker said after being asked about the veepstakes during a City Hall news conference on property taxes.

Parker caused confusion last week when her campaign released a video urging voters to support “Kamala Harris for president” and “Josh Shapiro for vice president.” Many viewers were unsure if Parker was simply building the case for Shapiro or whether she had inside knowledge that Harris had already made up her mind.

Vice President Kamala Harris is postponing a scheduled trip to Georgia amid the ongoing effects of Tropical Storm Debby.

Harris’ campaign said her stop planned in Savannah, Georgia, on Thursday, was being put off due to the storm.

Harris is choosing her running mate and will introduce the choice during a rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday. The pair will then travel together starting Wednesday to a series of key battleground states: Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Arizona and Nevada. But the Georgia leg of the original journey has been pulled down, for now.

Running-mate sideshows are nothing new in presidential politics, and the buzz surrounding Josh Shapiro marks at least the third time in the last 40 years that a politician in Pennsylvania, with its robust supply of electoral votes, has surfaced as a vice-presidential possibility.

On June 28, 1984 presumed Democratic presidential nominee Walter Mondale interviewed Mayor W. Wilson Goode, Philly’s first Black mayor, as a possible running mate. That was the year before the MOVE disaster in which 11 people died and 61 West Philadelphia homes were destroyed.

Goode had endorsed Mondale over Black presidential candidate Jesse Jackson.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro didn’t say anything about the status of the vice presidential candidate selection Monday morning as he arrived at the state Capitol in Harrisburg.

“I got nothing for you, man,” the first-term Democrat said and told an Associated Press reporter “have a great day” as he headed into the governor’s offices, flanked by an aide and several state troopers.

The officers and press secretary Manuel Bonder were waiting for Shapiro when he arrived just after 11 a.m. in a black SUV.

'The Avengers' actor and high-profile environmentalist Mark Ruffalo is highlighting a letter from Pennsylvanians and grassroots environmental groups that urges Vice President Kamala Harris to remove Gov. Josh Shapiro from consideration to be her running mate in a post on X Friday evening, citing what the residents call Shapiro's "detrimental" handling of a contaminated water crisis in Dimock, Pa. when he was state attorney general.

Ruffalo is urging the Harris campaign to read the letter addressed to the vice president and her team alleging that Shapiro's AG office did not provide the "bulk" water supply promised to Dimock residents while they were awaiting a water pipeline to be built – an agreed upon remedy to the community's water contaminated by fracking and oiling drilling.

"The Governor and his Administration have been working aggressively to make good on these commitments and continue delivering for the people of Dimock," wrote Manuel Bonder, a Shapiro spokesperson, in a statement. "Governor Shapiro will never forget the people of Dimock – and he has been working diligently alongside the Public Utilities Commission to ensure the public water line he secured gets built as quickly as possible."

Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a leader of the national progressive prosecutor movement, endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president Sunday, saying in a statement she “will save our democracy from Donald Trump, the MAGA haters, and anyone else who would erase Philadelphians’ votes.”

In the written statement, Krasner referred to Harris a “(reform) prosecutor” – parentheticals and all – lending her approval from a district attorney considered to be one of the most progressive in the country. Harris has at times faced criticism from the left for her tenure as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, with some pointing to her record aggressively prosecuting marijuana-related offenses.

“VP Harris is the (reform) prosecutor whose stellar talents America needs right now to shut down her opponent, a 34-time convicted felon and wannabe dictator – Donald Trump,” Krasner said.

“The Republican Party in Montgomery County is back.”

Christian Nascimento, the chair of the county party, made that declaration last month as rain drizzled over dozens of volunteers and committeepeople in Jenkintown, where the party opened the first of several planned satellite offices in traditionally blue areas.

While former President Donald Trump is unlikely to carry any of the Philadelphia collar counties, any chance for Republicans to improve upon the 2020 vote margins could play an essential role in the outcome of November’s presidential election, as well as the contest for the U.S. Senate and control of Pennsylvania’s statehouse.

Philadelphia will be at the center of the political universe Tuesday.

Vice President Kamala Harris’ first rally with her yet-to-be-named running mate will be at Temple University’s 10,000-seat basketball arena on Tuesday, according to a source with knowledge of the planning.

The rally at the Liacouras Center will be Harris’ first campaign stop in Philadelphia since she became the presumptive Democratic nominee following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race. It will kick off a multistate campaign tour with her running mate, who is expected to be named ahead of the rally.

When Vice President Kamala Harris appears for the first time with her running mate in Philadelphia on Tuesday, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said he hopes and plans to be in attendance.

But it’s still unclear what his role will be at that event.

Shapiro, a finalist to be Harris’ running mate, has consistently dodged the questions about whether he wants the job, adding that it’s a “deeply personal decision” for Harris.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once retrieved a bear that was killed by a motorist and left it in New York’s Central Park with a bicycle on top, sparking a mystery that consumed the city a decade ago.

Kennedy describes the incident in a video that was posted to social media Sunday, adding it will be included in a forthcoming New Yorker article that he expects to be damaging.

It’s the latest bizarre incident in Kennedy’s quixotic campaign that has divided his famous family and left Republicans and Democrats alike concerned about his potential impact on the presidential contest. Kennedy has acknowledged a parasite that lodged in his brain and died. He denied eating a dog after a friend shared a photo with Vanity Fair magazine showing Kennedy dramatically preparing to take a bite of a charred animal; Kennedy said it was a goat.

One spring day in 1986, Josh Shapiro became a bar mitzvah. Rabbi Aaron Landes told the packed congregation at Beth Sholom Synagogue in Elkins Park that there was something special about the boy.

Joshua, Rabbi Landes said, carried himself with “a special dignity that is reflective of a young man with a purpose, a goal.”

Thirty-eight years later, that young man still has a big vision. Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s governor, could be named Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate this week, catapulted onto an international stage.