Vice President Kamala Harris decided on Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, although many thought Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro would be the pick. So, why didn't he make the cut?
Republican President Pro tempore Senator Kim Ward has reacted, saying she wasn't surprised by the VP pick.
“As the national media started to dig deeper into some of the questionable, troubling issues surrounding the governor, the Harris team thought ‘well, this is risky’”, said Ward.
Ward added "Kamala Harris is the top of the ticket and no matter who she chose for VP, they would adopt her agenda.”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette noted that Shapiro "has been criticized for his positions on school vouchers, fracking, and the Israel-Hamas war."
In detail, they reported that a group of progressive Democrats signed a letter in support of Walz, saying Mr. Shapiro, “although a valued member of the Democratic coalition, has 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.”
He was also heavily criticized for opposing an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. "Three decades ago as a student at the University of Rochester, Mr. Shapiro wrote in the campus newspaper that Palestinians were “too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.”
ABC News reported the nonprofit Institute for Middle East Understanding was publicly vocal against Shapiro, saying he's “not the right candidate for the job, and selecting him would be a step in the wrong direction.”
A kinder view on why Harris picked Walz over Shapiro came from frequent vice presidential critic, who wrote on X, "the danger of picking Josh Shapiro was that he could potentially upstage Kamala Harris in the public eye.
Tim Walz does not have that problem.