The event comes as Josh Shapiro has emerged as one of the leading candidates to be Kamala Harris’ vice presidential pick.
With less than 100 days to go until Election Day, all eyes are focused on Pennsylvania, a pivotal swing state in this year’s election and potentially home to the next vice president of the United States.
Gov. Josh Shapiro, one of Pennsylvania’s most popular governors in the past 30 years, has emerged as one of the top contenders to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the November election.
Over the past week, Shapiro has been speaking highly of Harris and refining his messaging on “freedom,” a pillar of Harris’ campaign, every opportunity he gets.
This culminated on Monday, when Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer held a rally in front of a thousand Harris supporters at Wissahickon High School in Montgomery County.
Both Shapiro and Whitmer reminded voters how their freedoms are at stake in the upcoming election.
“It’s not freedom to tell our children what books they’re allowed to read,” Shapiro said. “It is not freedom to tell people they can go to work, but they can’t join a union. That’s not freedom. It’s not freedom to tell women what they’re allowed to do with their bodies. That’s not freedom. I know this well, I was attorney General when he was trying to stop your votes from being counted. It’s not freedom to tell people they can go vote, but he’s going to pick the winner.”
“We know that there is a person who will stay shoulder to shoulder with us to fight for our freedoms and that is Kamala Harris,” Whitmer added.
Shapiro went on to criticize Trump during part of his speech, chiding him for always hugging the American flag while trying to rip freedoms away from average Americans.
“You ever see this guy when he’s on the stage, he kind of meanders over, can’t really walk well, and he goes over to the flag and he hugs the flag, and I love the flag, but it’s a weird thing he does, right,” Shapiro said to the crowd jokingly.
“But, while he’s hugging the flag, you know what he’s doing. He’s ripping away our freedoms. That’s what he’s all about.”
It’s been a little more than a week since President Joe Biden announced that he wasn’t going to seek a second term in office, and endorsed Harris to take on Donald Trump this fall.
Harris quickly gained support from Democrats across the country and shattered fundraising records, raising over $200 million in a week. That enthusiasm has trickled down to the state and local levels, with over 8,000 Pennsylvania residents signing up to volunteer for the Harris campaign.
“I’m thrilled that Kamala is the nominee for the Democratic Party,” Lorie Slass, of Elkins Park, told The Keystone. “She’s looking forward, not backwards, and she brings a lot of hope and energy to the campaign.”
Harris will reportedly announce her running mate by Aug. 7, and Shapiro has repeatedly been listed as one of the top contenders.
He has the backing of fellow Democrats and labor leaders from across the commonwealth. Last week, 50 union leaders from across Pennsylvania signed a letter supporting Shapiro as Harris’ running mate.
“Pennsylvania is home to over a half million union workers who play a critical role not just in our workplaces, but in our neighborhoods and our communities,” the letter read.
“Organized labor built the Pennsylvania and United States that we know and love today. At this moment in history, the role of unions is more critical than ever, and we take seriously the commitment of our elected officials to support and promote the union way of life. No one has been more steadfast in their commitment to working people than Josh Shapiro.”
Shawn Dougherty, the Secretary-Treasurer with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 107 in Philadelphia, described himself as a conservative-leaning Democrat and called Shapiro a “superhero” for union workers across the commonwealth.
“Josh, as far as I’m concerned, he’s a superhero fighting for the working men and women around this state,” Daugherty said. “And quite frankly, he did so in the chair as the attorney general.”
