Shapiro, 51, is the chief executive of a crucial battleground state rich with electoral votes, where Harris is set to campaign with her yet-to-be-named running mate on Tuesday. Speculation had mounted that based on the location of Tuesday’s rally, in Philadelphia, that it may just be Shapiro.
That scenario and Shapiro’s fortunes now appear to have dimmed.
Shapiro has come under fire for his administration’s move last year to pay nearly $300,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against one of his longtime aides. The deal involved a non-disclosure agreement.
I don’t think he’s taken a significantly different position than the other candidates on this. I mean in January, he said “I personally believe Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the worst leaders of all time”. He was pretty reactionary about school protests, but for the most part he basically has had the i-dont-want-this-to-affect-my-politics-two-state-i-condemn-violence position that most politicians take, and hasn’t been especially deferent to Israel at all.
He’s not my favorite, just because he seems kinda… mmmm… politician-y asshole-y to me? But I don’t feel like his stance on Israel is the reason to specifically avoid him.
He’s certainly AIPAC worded. Here is a snippet from his wp page
In regards to students being “blocked from going to campus just because they’re Jewish”, Shapiro compared such an act to the Ku Klux Klan. He called for a police crackdown on the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania, but later said he was already aware of police plans to disband the encampment after police made arrests less than 24 hours after Shapiro’s statement.
As of June 2024, Shapiro supported a proposed state law that would block state funding of colleges and universities that engage in a “boycott or divestment from Israel,” a term that the bill defined to include any activity “intended to financially penalize the government of Israel”.
First Amendment advocates have criticized Shapiro over a revision to the state employees’ code of conduct prohibiting “scandalous” behavior. Pro-Palestinian and Muslim groups raised concerns that the order was intended to chill speech related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. One First Amendment lawyer from Bryn Mawr called the regulation “impossible to adhere to because it’s impossible to understand what it applies to.”
hmm the “boycott or divestment from Israel” block funding thing refers to Bill 1260, for those who want to dig deeper. It was the first time I’m hearing of that one.