Why Josh Shapiro might be Kamala Harris’s running mate pick

Kamala Harris is days — if not mere hours — from publicly announcing her selection of a running mate for the remainder of the 2024 cycle. A Yinzer may be at the top of her list.

Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro emerged early on as a strong contenderin the running to serve as the vice president’s own future VP, with Harris now at the top of the Democratic ticket and Joe Biden stepping aside. A swing-state governor enjoying a wave of popularity through his first term, Shapiro checks several boxes for the Harris campaign.

His ability to drive out votes for Harris particularly in western Pennsylvania is possibly Shapiro’s most important selling point. The governor’s commanding victory in 2022, a 15-point brutalizing of his opponent Doug Mastriano, was aided in part by the fact that Shapiro was about to turn out voters in every county. Even in deep-red Republican counties with far fewer voters, where Democrats are often wiped out, the governor was about to turn out between 17-30 per cent of the vote in his favor. Compare that to Mastriano, who received just 13.1 per cent of the vote in Philadelphia County, the second-largest district by voter turnout.

If Shapiro were able to deliver Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes, it would be a major pickup for the Harris campaign. Doing so would allow Democrats to shift more resources to states like Georgia, Arizona and even places like Florida where local parties are hoping for more resources from their national counterparts. It’s no coincidence the other reported finalists for the spots all have battleground state appeal as well — Minnesota’s Tim Walz, Michigan’s Gary Peters, Arizona’s Mark Kelly and even Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, whose connections to Appalachia have been seen as a