‘Overly ambitious’: New book about the 2024 election details why Kamala Harris passed over Gov. Josh Shapiro for VP

Vice President Kamala Harris had a better rapport with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and saw him as a preferable fit to be her No. 2 — but she wrestled with whether Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro would be the more strategic choice in the campaign against Donald Trump, in a decision that came down to the wire last summer.

The final deliberations are detailed in excerpts from a new book about the 2024 presidential election, which recounts Harris’ vetting process in the weeks after then-President Joe Biden unexpectedly dropped out of the race and bolsters reporting from The Inquirer and other outlets about how Shapiro’s ambition — and some reluctance to leave his job as Pennsylvania governor — affected Harris’ choice.

» READ MORE: Inside Harris’ decision to pass over Josh Shapiro as her VP pick

The book, 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, is available as of Tuesday and was written by reporters Josh Dawsey of the Wall Street Journal, Tyler Pager of the New York Times, and Isaac Arnsdorf of the Washington Post. It chronicles Harris’ decision on a running mate, which ultimately came down to Shapiro and Walz, and offers new details about how Shapiro’s ambition became a sticking point for the vice president.

The book is based on conversations with the Trump, Biden, and Harris campaigns and people close to them.

Shapiro, who is widely rumored to be considering a run for president in 2028, is up for reelection as Pennsylvania’s governor next year. The first-term Democratic governor has steered clear of much public indication he is actively gearing up to campaign, unlike some second-term governors or contenders who are not in elected office. But the book’s buzz contributes to his established reputation as someone with the White House on his mind.

» READ MORE: Josh Shapiro is used to winning. But losing out on VP is hardly a defeat.

Shapiro was initially among six men under consideration for Harris’ running mate, according to excerpts from the book, a list that included Walz, Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker. All six participated in Zoom interviews on Aug. 2 with a panel that included Harris’ brother-in-law, Tony West; Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D., Nev.); former U.S. Rep. Cedric Richmond (D., La.), a former Biden adviser; and former Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh.

Harris, with input from the panel, eventually whittled the list down to Shapiro and Walz.

“On paper many Democrats thought Shapiro was the obvious choice,” the authors wrote, noting that he was the person whom the Trump campaign feared the most.

“He was the popular governor of Pennsylvania, which both campaigns viewed as the most important battleground state,” the authors wrote. “He was young, fifty-one, and cut a moderate profile — a helpful counterbalance to the perception of Harris as a radical California liberal that the Trump campaign was eager to hammer home.”

Shapiro’s speaking skills were also compelling and “in the mold of Barack Obama,” the authors wrote, though some Democrats thought he sounded like him “to the point of parody.”

Walz, a Midwesterner, veteran, and former football coach, was favored by the panel coming out of the Zoom interviews. Harris invited Walz, Shapiro, and Kelly to her residence for in-person interviews the day after, on Aug. 3.

“The pitch for Walz was straightforward: He could appeal to white voters across the Blue Wall states … and hopefully help Harris with male voters. He’d never lost an election,” the authors wrote.

His folksy style contrasted with Shapiro’s down to their drink requests during their interviews. Shapiro asked for water. Walz asked for a Diet Mountain Dew.

Harris already had reservations about whether Shapiro’s background was too similar to hers, as they both are former state attorneys general.

And, according to the book, their one-on-one interview “revealed the two were not a perfect match.”

Shapiro “came across as overly ambitious,” the authors recount, “pushing Harris to define what his role would be. He also conceded it would not be natural for him to serve as someone’s number two, leaving Harris with a bad impression.”

Walz, meanwhile, showed no interest in running for president and had a much more humble pitch for the job, at one point admitting he was nervous about the debate and suggesting Harris might consider a stronger debater instead.

And on Sunday night, a day after his interview, Shapiro called Harris’ aides and expressed his own reservations, saying he was not sure he was ready to leave his job as Pennsylvania governor.

“Harris was perplexed when she was briefed on the call,” according to the book.

“Shapiro seemed to want Harris to be invested in his success as much as he was in hers, and he didn’t say he wasn’t interested in potentially running for president in the future.”

Still, Harris struggled with her final decision, wondering if Shapiro was the more strategic choice to defeat Trump. Without any polling to prove that hunch, she ultimately went with her gut and announced Walz the morning of the campaign rally to introduce her pick.

The rally announcing Walz was held on Aug. 6 at the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia, where Shapiro took the stage hours after learning he was passed over as the vice presidential pick.

He continued to stump for Harris and to help the campaign behind the scenes, including in one instance just a few weeks later.

According to the book, the Harris campaign reached out to a Pennsylvania family farm about hosting a campaign event with “the governor” in early September.

The family accepted, but a day before the event, when advance teams got there, they discovered it was an event with Walz, not Shapiro, and backed out. Shapiro’s team helped Harris’ campaign find a different farm to host Walz, according to the book.

Walz visited Cherry Hill Orchards in Lancaster on Sept. 4, posing for pictures and buying whoopie pies and apple cider doughnuts on the visit with his daughter, both sporting camouflage hats.

“It’s not hyperbole to say this election could very well hinge on this county here, this field office here, and the folks that we get out,” Walz said to a crowd of supporters in the basement of the county’s Democratic Party headquarters in Lancaster that day.

He and Harris would go on to lose Pennsylvania to Trump and vice presidential nominee JD Vance by 1.7 percentage points.