Governor Josh Shapiro is spilling the tea on Kamala Harris’s vice presidential interview process, and it isn’t pretty.
When Harris became the anointed nominee, she had to find a running mate quickly. Josh Shapiro was seen as the front-runner for that role due to his position as governor of Pennsylvania, a swing state, and the perception of him as a more “moderate” Democrat. At the time that she picked her vice president, it was seen as political malpractice for Kamala Harris to choose Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro. After the election, when it was obvious that the choice of Walz did not help Harris at all, she tried to explain her reasoning behind not choosing Shapiro in her “107 Days” memoir.
Harris described Shapiro, one of three finalists for the post, as “poised, polished and personable.” But she was put off by his ambition — and his request to be in the room for every major decision — and worried he would not settle for the number-two job.
Harris twice describes Shapiro as “peppering” her and staff with questions, not just about details of the job but also life as vice president. He asked the residence manager a number of questions about the home, ranging from the number of bedrooms to “how he might arrange to get Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian.”
She also accused Shapiro of exhibiting a “lack of discretion” in the veepstakes, recalling that his official vehicles with Pennsylvania plates were filmed by CNN in front of the vice president’s residence, despite efforts by her staff to arrange for less attention-getting transportation.
Josh Shapiro was plenty mad at Harris for this characterization of him.
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