Who is Josh Shapiro, Kamala Harris’s potential vice-presidential pick?

Josh Shapiro, the governor of Pennsylvania, is a leading contender to be named Kamala Harris’s running mate in the US presidential election, with a decision expected in the next few days.

A congressional aide turned state representative and state attorney general, the 51-year-old father of four was elected governor in 2022. Close to two years later, he maintains historically high approval ratings, including notable support from Republicans, his numbers outstripping such ratings both for Harris and for the GOP ticket of Donald Trump and JD Vance.

In 2020, the declaration of victory in Pennsylvania confirmed Joe Biden’s election win over Trump. In 2024, the state is again one of the most important presidential battlegrounds. On Tuesday, Harris will stage her first event with her vice-presidential pick in Philadelphia, the state’s biggest city: a move that did little to quell speculation that Shapiro will be that pick.

Related: Who is Mark Kelly, the potential vice-presidential pick from Arizona?

Some progressives, however, are alarmed. Addressing Harris in an open letter this week, around 50 leaders of national progressive groups said the need to “defeat the Trump-Vance-Maga threat” meant Democrats “simply cannot afford any setbacks” from now until November. Selecting Shapiro, they said, would be such a setback.

Though they called the governor “a valued member of the Democratic coalition”, the progressives said that as governor he had “made too many controversial policy decisions on issues such as school choice and the environment to be the consensus voice our nation needs right now”.

Shapiro has indeed supported school vouchers – broadly speaking, using public money to pay for private tuition – but has also said public education should be “fully funded”. Environmental groups say he has switched from being tough on fracking as attorney general to courting oil and gas as governor; spokespeople for Shapiro deny this.

But another issue looms larger: Israel. Since Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October last year, Shapiro, who is Jewish, has criticised Benjamin Netanyahu over Israeli attacks on Gaza and other Palestinian territories, calling the prime minister “one of the worst leaders of all time”, but also insisting Israel has the right to self-defence.

On home soil, Shapiro has condemned alleged antisemitism among anti-Israel protesters, implementing measures progressives say are aimed at clamping down on pro-Palestinian voices, particularly on college campuses.

In April, speaking to CNN, Shapiro compared some pro-Palestinian protesters to the Ku Klux Klan, saying that as “people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia” would not be tolerated on campuses, so antisemitism should be opposed too. He also condemned Liz Magill, then president of the University of Pennsylvania, after a controversial congressional hearing and before she resigned. Shapiro supports a bill to punish colleges that boycott or divest from Israel.

Such moves have stoked growing leftwing opposition. This week, a group of progressives under the label VPUnity told Harris: “At this crucial moment, ruining Democratic unity would be a catastrophic gift to Donald Trump. And no issue is more divisive within the Democratic party than the US-enabled Israeli war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza.

“Across the country, news that Governor Shapiro is under serious consideration for the VP slot has set off alarm bells among young people, racial justice organisers, Arab Americans, Muslims and others whose votes and campaign activism were crucial to defeating Trump four years ago.”

More starkly, a leftwing effort entitled “No Genocide Josh” has attracted increasing attention. On Friday, Jewish members of Congress pushed back.

Greg Landsman, a Democrat from Ohio, told Axios: “I think there is that sense that somehow we’re not objective [on Israel] because we’re Jewish, which is just not true or fair.

“There are a lot of members who are pro-Israel who have been protested against – I think as Jews it feels particularly intense and personal.”

Speaking to the New York Times, meanwhile, Jake Auchincloss, a Massachusetts congressman, outlined Shapiro’s centrist appeal.

“Harris needs to win Pennsylvania, signal moderation and reassure Haley voters” – supporters of the former South Carolina governor who lost the Republican primary to Trump – “that she’ll stand up to the left. The more the Twitter left piles on [Shapiro], the more helpful he is to Harris.”

Prominent progressives have supported Shapiro.

Writing for Newsweek, Cenk Uygur, co-creator of The Young Turks, said: “My fellow progressives: It’s got to stop. Josh Shapiro is the progressive pick.”

Uygur, who briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination himself, listed reasons why: in Pennsylvania, he said, Shapiro “put an end” to “exorbitant fees” charged by the Wall Street banks that run pension funds, and “took on predatory lenders”. Uygur also cited action against “predator priests” in the powerful Catholic church, when Shapiro was attorney general.

On Israel, Uygur said, Shapiro’s “position … is correct, though his optics are terrible. Like all sane people, Shapiro supports a two-state solution and a free, independent Palestine. As for his support for Israel, consider his remarks about its leader.”

Shapiro was “ahead of the curve” in calling out Netanyahu, Uygur said, though also “a reactionary about campus protests against Israel”.

But “the pro list is much longer than this one con … [and] if you still say you can’t stomach supporting a person who is indifferent to Muslim lives … you might find it interesting to know what Shapiro was doing in the first days of the Trump administration. He was busy fighting the Muslim ban.”