What Jews Should Know About the Kamala Harris Veepstakes

Two Jewish governors, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker, were both floated as potential Vice Presidential picks for Kamala Harris. 

By JTA

After President Joe Biden ended his campaign, leading Democrats have coalesced around Vice President Kamala Harris — and begun speculating about her running mate. At least two Jewish governors are thought to be top contenders.

Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and Illinois’ J.B. Pritzker were both floated as potential presidential candidates when pressure began mounting for Biden to drop out. Now, one of them could join Harris on the ticket if she wins the nomination. Another possibility is Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, whose wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, is Jewish.

A major-party presidential ticket has featured a Jewish candidate only once before, when Joe Lieberman was the Democratic nominee for vice president alongside Al Gore.

Whoever is picked as a Democratic vice-presidential candidate is likely to face questions about the Israel-Hamas war and antisemitism at home, including if they were to debate Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance.

One possible Jewish candidate, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, threw cold water on his chances in a CNN interview: “If they do the polling and it turns out that they need a 49-year-old balding gay Jew from Boulder, Colorado, they got my number,” he said.

And another prominent (non-Jewish) Democrat floated for the job seems to have already withdrawn: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer told reporters Monday “I am not leaving Michigan” and said she would be co-chairing the Harris campaign.

Here is a Jewish guide to the frontrunners in Harris’ veepstakes, all of whom have publicly endorsed her for president:

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro

Shapiro, an early favorite among veepstakes prognosticators, represents a swing state considered crucial to winning the election. In his rise through Pennsylvania politics, he’s aimed to project a clean-cut image and has brought his sensibilities as a Jewish day school graduate and parent to the campaign trail and the governor’s mansion. He was sworn in last year on a stack of three Hebrew Bibles.

As state attorney general, he led multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration and ensured that the state’s votes were counted in the 2020 presidential election. In 2018, he led a landmark investigation into sexual abuse at Catholic institutions in the state.

One Shapiro campaign ad in 2022 focused on his Shabbat observance, and how the break from the workweek helped him cope with the rigors of running for office.

As governor, he has been outspoken about combating threats to Jewish students on his state’s campuses, tussling with the now-former University of Pennsylvania president, Liz Magill, both before and after Oct. 7. He showed up to nosh at a Philadelphia kosher eatery, Goldie, after calls by pro-Palestinian groups to boycott the business.

“What they did was blatant antisemitism,” he said then. “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.”

In the short time since Biden’s announcement, Shapiro’s Judaism has become a topic of conversation in the media. On Sunday night, CNN anchor John King, who converted to Judaism when he married his CNN colleague Dana Bash, opined about him, “He’s a first-term governor, he’s Jewish, there could be some risks in putting him on the ticket.” The remark has sparked backlash from some who said that it was antisemitic or reflected antisemitism among Democrats.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear

Beshear is a rare beast in the 2024 political landscape: a Democratic governor of a solidly red state. The political acumen that reflects, some Democratic strategists believe, would make him valuable on the national campaign trail even if he can’t turn Kentucky blue.

In his state, the governor’s biggest political battles have hinged on hot-button topics like transgender health care and abortion rights; on both issues, the Christian governor who says his “values are grounded in my faith” has found allies among Kentucky’s Jews.

Last year, Beshear vetoed a law banning certain medical procedures for transgender youth, which the Republican-controlled state legislature introduced weeks after the trans son of the chamber’s only Jewish lawmaker died by suicide; state Republicans then overrode his veto. In response, a Democratic state lawmaker gave a viral floor speech, inspired by her friendship with an Orthodox Jewish constituent, in which she linked anti-trans legislation to antisemitism.

Beshear also opposes his state’s near-total abortion ban, which had been challenged in court by three Jewish women alleging that the law infringed upon their religious freedom rights. A judge threw out the lawsuit in June, saying they lacked standing.

Beshear also has voiced support for Israel since the Oct. 7 attacks. He said that he and his wife’s “prayers go out to the people of Israel” immediately after the attacks. In December he established a task force to combat antisemitism that included several Jewish politicians and community leaders. He later pushed the task force to address hostility toward Jews on college campuses in the state.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly

Another popular elected official from a key swing state, Kelly has a reputation as a political moderate (he was an independent prior to registering as a Democrat in 2018). His background as a U.S. Navy captain and NASA astronaut burnished his image among voters prior to his being recruited to run for the Senate in 2020 to replace the late John McCain. In 2022, Kelly beat challenger Blake Masters, a far-right Republican who quoted a Nazi in an online post, to keep his Senate seat.

Kelly is married to former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, who is Jewish. The two were married in a Jewish ceremony. If Harris were to pick Kelly, both candidates on the Democratic ticket would have Jewish spouses. Harris’ husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, has taken a leading role in the Biden administration’s efforts to combat antisemitism; Kelly has, too, by co-sponsoring the Countering Antisemitism Act in the Senate and serving on a bipartisan Senate task force for countering antisemitism.

After Giffords survived an assassination attempt in 2011, Kelly spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast and offered a prayer for the victims of the mass shooting that had originally been offered by the rabbi who married them. He has since become an outspoken advocate for gun control.

Kelly has spoken of having a connection to Israel that predates both his Senate career and his relationship with Giffords: his friendship with Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon when the two were stationed in Houston together. Ramon was one of the victims of the 2003 Columbia space shuttle explosion.

In the Senate, Kelly has been a supporter of Israel and a two-state solution with the Palestinians. He has also said that some of the campus pro-Palestinian protests this spring, including at Arizona colleges, “have become very violent” and that “it’s appropriate for the police to step in” when such protest “turns into unlawful acts.” He has recently said that conditioning U.S. military aid to Israel would be “appropriate” if Israel cannot do a better job limiting civilian casualties in Gaza.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper

Cooper, another Democratic governor of a Republican-leaning state, has staked out positions on Jewish issues favored by establishment Jewish and pro-Israel groups. He has signed legislation making North Carolina one of dozens of states that rule out doing business with companies that boycott Israel. Earlier this year he also signed the SHALOM Act into law, which adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Association’s popular and controversial definition of antisemitism for the state. The bill was introduced by a Republican but had bipartisan support.

“Defining antisemitism is important to stopping it, and this new law helps do that as antisemitic incidents are on the rise,” Cooper, who has served as a deacon and elder of his Presbyterian church, stated at the time. “While we protect the right to free speech, this legislation helps to make our state a more welcoming, inclusive and safe place for everyone.”

Cooper has also called himself a “good friend” of U.S. Rep. Kathy Manning, a Jewish North Carolina Democrat, former board chair of Jewish Federations of North America and one of the most vocally pro-Israel members of Congress. In December, when Manning announced she would not seek reelection in her redrawn district, Cooper tweeted that she had fallen victim to a “scourge of partisan and racial gerrymandering.”

Meanwhile, the race to succeed Cooper, who is term-limited, has captured the attention of North Carolina’s Jews: The Democratic nominee, Attorney General Josh Stein, is Jewish, while the Republican nominee, Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, has a history of flirting with antisemitic ideas and recently declared, “Some folks need killing.” (He later claimed he had been referring to Nazis, and has said he apologized for past antisemitic comments).

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker

J.B. Pritzker is the scion of a wealthy Jewish hotelier family long involved in Democratic politics. His sister Penny, a major donor to Barack Obama’s presidential campaigns, was Obama’s commerce secretary and is now Biden’s special envoy to help Ukraine’s war-torn economy recover.

Pritzker has endorsed Harris and, on Monday, in response to media speculation that he “would be running for something,” tweeted a reference to a popular meme among Harris supporters: “You think I just fell out of a coconut tree?”

Illinois is solid blue, making a Pritzker pick unlikely to give Harris an electoral map advantage. His silver-spoon background could also hurt his chances with working-class voters.

Pritzker has made billions as an investor. In 2019, just after his first election in the blue state, he cited his antecedents’ impoverished Jewish immigrant roots to explain his own politics. He also has had harsh words for former President Donald Trump. Pritzker was the first Democrat to describe Trump as a felon after his conviction in court in May, and remained relentless while Biden and others held back.

“Donald Trump is a racist, a homophobe, a grifter and a threat to this country,” Pritzker said just minutes after the jury returned its verdict. “He can now add one more title to his list — a felon.”

2024 Presidential electionAmerican JewsKamala Harris