AMBLER, Pa. — Govs. Josh Shapiro and Gretchen Whitmer — both under consideration to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate — held a joint rally Monday in the Philadelphia suburbs where they drew contrasts between the Democrats’ new standard-bearer and former President Donald Trump.
Shapiro, of Pennsylvania, and Whitmer, of Michigan, drew a crowd of more than 1,000 that included many who said they were intrigued by the idea that they could be hearing from Harris’ eventual VP pick.
“How good is John Shapiro?” Whitmer said. “Well, he’s gotten a heck of a lot done in just over … the last year and a half. And it’s another example of Democratic governors who believe in our three-part strategy: Get s--- done.”
The crowd chanted in response: “Get s--- done! Get s--- done!”
Shapiro is considered to be among the leading contenders for the No. 2 spot, along with others like Sen. Mark Kelly, of Arizona, while Whitmer said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that she has “communicated with everyone, including the campaign, that I’ve made a commitment to serve out my term as governor in Michigan.”
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, who was considered another top contender, withdrew his name from consideration Monday night.
Whitmer and Shapiro cemented their status as rising Democratic stars in 2022 when they won their elections in landslide victories. Monday’s rally in Montgomery County — Shapiro’s home — was the first time they have held a rally together.
They talked up Harris’ career as a prosecutor, from her time as district attorney in San Francisco to attorney general of California, with Shapiro calling her “tough as nails.” They contrasted her candidacy with Trump’s by saying she is for “real freedom.”
“Pennsylvanians are a lot like Michiganders and Wisconsinites,” Whitmer said. “We disagree during Big 10 football season, but we’ve got a lot in common. We care about one another. We’re willing to show up and do hard, tough work, and we take pride in that work, but we expect to have our freedoms protected.”
“We are the party, as Gov. Shapiro likes to say, of real freedom for Americans,” she added.
Shapiro zeroed in on Project 2025, the presidential transition plan and policy blueprint for a future Republican administration that Democrats have targeted in their ads and remarks for weeks. Trump has distanced himself from the initiative, which is led by numerous officials from his administration.
“He is dangerous, he is destructive, and the guardrails are off,” Shapiro said of Trump. “And here’s the other thing: He’s told us what he wants to do. Y’all, go crack open that whole Project 2025 thing. Go take a look at what his buddies and all his former staff wrote. … It’s really scary.”
Shapiro also mocked Trump by imitating him walking over to a flag and hugging it.
“When he’s on the stage, he kind of meanders over, he can’t really walk well, and he goes over to the flag and he, like, hugs the flag,” Shapiro said. “And I love the flag, but it’s a weird thing he does, right? … While he’s hugging the flag, you know what he’s doing? He’s stripping away our freedoms.”
Since President Joe Biden, 81, dropped out of the race this month, Democrats have ramped up their attacks on Trump’s age. And they’ve also sought to paint Trump, 78, and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, as “weird.”
Whitmer made a point of criticizing both Trump and Vance.
“To be clear, Kamala Harris has more experience than the Trump-Vance ticket combined,” she said, adding of Vance: “He’s really made his values clear lately. He does not see women as equals. He does not want everyone to have a seat at the table. He’s scared of us.”
“As Democrats, we want everyone to have a seat at the table,” she said before she pointed to comments in 2021 in which Vance he criticized Democratic leaders as “childless cat ladies.” “I mean, even cat lovers and dog lovers alike.”
In Pennsylvania, a pivotal battleground state, rallygoers said they were reinvigorated by Harris’ ascension to the top of the ticket after Biden’s decision to step aside.
Linda LaVay, 64, a voter from Upper Gwynedd, said it was the first political rally she had attended in her life.
“I want to know how we’re going to move forward,” she said before Shapiro and Whitmer took the stage. “How are we going to keep this momentum going?”
But with Harris being so new atop the ticket, LaVay said, she wanted to hear more about the overall Democratic platform and what policies Harris would advocate. She added that she wanted Democrats to be more open about recent policies to stem the flow of migration across the U.S. border with Mexico.
Naveen Ithikkat, a voter from Blue Bell, said he and his wife will be able to vote for the first time this fall after they recently obtained U.S. citizenship. Ithikkat said that while they consider themselves to be liberal-leaning, they had been concerned with Biden’s becoming the party’s nominee.
“At that point, we weren’t too sure whether we would be able to vote for Biden, considering his age,” he said.
But Harris is a more appealing option, Ithikkat said. So, too, is the possibility that Shapiro, their governor, could be her running mate.
“I think we are all Josh Shapiro fans,” Jaycy Ithikkat said. “And the fact that he is one of the VP candidates definitely has brought us here to the rally today.”
Shapiro, 51, is a first-term governor who enjoys solid approval ratings at home, including among Republicans. Pennsylvania Democrats have pushed for him to be on the ticket, though some on the left have expressed uneasiness with the possibility, pointing to his strong condemnation of pro-Palestinian protesters, his support of school vouchers and his handling of sexual harassment claims against a legislative aide.
Shawn Dougherty, secretary and treasurer of Teamsters Local 107, suggested the concerns about Shapiro as the running mate were overblown.
“That’s my guy,” he said. “We’ve been with Josh since his career has started. But more importantly, he’s been with us, the workers, since he started.”
“He’s very articulate,” Dougherty added. “He’s a great orator. He can get any type of message across that’s needed here.”
