(Bloomberg) -- Governor Josh Shapiro predicted the race in his home state of Pennsylvania — a key presidential battleground — would hinge on the ability of his party’s nominee, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, to address the economic anxieties of voters.
“I think it’ll be really close, because it always is in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said Wednesday in a roundtable with Bloomberg News on the sidelines of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
“They want to know someone’s got their back,” he said of the state’s voters. “Someone’s going to speak to their economic concerns and anxieties and continue some of the really important progress the Biden-Harris administration has made, particularly when it comes to infrastructure, particularly when it comes to clean energy.”
Shapiro’s home state along with Michigan and Wisconsin comprises the so-called Democratic Blue Wall, states President Joe Biden won in 2020 and which will be crucial to Harris’ hopes of defeating Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Voters across the country rate the economy as a defining issue and have expressed broad unease with Biden’s handling of the matter, sentiments which threaten to undercut Harris. Democrats are seeking to expand their appeal to White, working class voters in states such as Pennsylvania, once loyal to the party but have been drawn to Trump’s populist agenda, especially as high prices hammer households.
In the Blue Wall states, combined growth from 2019 to the end of 2023 was just one-third of that seen outside swing states, once adjusted for inflation and population increases.
Shapiro cited Biden’s infrastructure spending and push to bolster green energy jobs, saying those efforts had helped communities where people “are now going back to work finally.” Trump has made Biden’s push to transition the country to electric vehicles a key target, seizing on worries among blue-collar workers that the shift will reduce jobs and wages.
‘Cutting Costs’
In her bid to convince voters she will be a stronger steward on the economy than Trump, Harris is highlighting proposals to lower costs for Americans. She has proposed down payment assistance for first time home buyers, expanded tax credits and programs to curb price growth for rent and groceries.
Over the weekend, she embarked on a bus tour of western Pennsylvania, including a stop at Beaver County, a conservative-leaning exurb to Pittsburgh’s northwest.
Shapiro praised Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, for reaching out to voters in what he called a “forgotten community,” one which “Democrats had been losing for years.”
“I think those rural areas are fired up for Donald Trump. I don’t think we should pretend that they’re not,” he added. “These rural areas are areas where Democrats have to compete.”
Biden won Pennsylvania by slight more than one percentage point and polls indicate it will be a tight contest again. A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll in July found Trump ahead 50% to 46% in the state, but that lead was down from the seven-point edge he had earlier that month when running against Biden.
“I think we’re statistically even at this point,” Shapiro said Wednesday.
VP Shortlist
Shapiro was on the shortlist for consideration to join Harris on the Democratic ticket before she eventually tapped Walz.
A popular governor with nationwide appeal, Shapiro would have become the second-ever Jewish person on a major party presidential ticket. Shapiro, 51, won a landslide victory in 2022 against a pro-Trump Republican, establishing him as a rising star in the Democratic Party.
“The vice president had a personal decision to make and so did I, and I think this all ended up in the right place,” he said of the selection process.
He faced criticism, however, from the progressive wing of the party over his staunch support for Israel in its war against Gaza. Republicans assailed Harris for not tapping Shapiro, claiming antisemitism.
“Trump has been stoking this,” Shapiro said, adding an expletive. “Antisemitism played absolutely no role in the dialogue I had with the vice president.”
Demonstrators angered by Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza and the administration’s handling of the conflict have staged protests in Chicago. Harris has adopted a more sympathetic tone than Biden toward the plight of Palestinians, but has angered activists by refusing to disavow Israel.
“I really try hard not to think about the horrors of what’s happening overseas in political terms,” Shapiro said when asked about the situation in Gaza and protests.
“I think we need to keep our focus on the human suffering, not whatever the political ramifications there will be,” he added.
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