Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro says he was taken aback and offended during the 2024 presidential campaign when members of Vice President Kamala Harris’s vetting team asked whether he was acting as a “double agent” for Israel while he was under consideration to be her running mate.
Shapiro recounts the episode in his upcoming memoir, Where We Keep the Light, excerpts of which were published Sunday by The New York Times. In the book, Shapiro describes the question as a last-minute inquiry that left a lasting impression during an already intense vetting process.
According to the Times, Shapiro wrote that he was directly asked whether he had been a double agent for Israel. He said he immediately told the questioner that he found the suggestion offensive. Shapiro wrote that he was told in response, “Well, we have to ask.” While he acknowledged in his book that the person posing the question was doing her job, he said the fact that such a question was raised spoke volumes about the people surrounding the vice president at the time.
Shapiro was widely viewed as a leading contender to join Harris on the Democratic ticket after she became the party’s nominee following former President Joe Biden’s exit from the race. In the end, Harris selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, a decision that sparked immediate speculation among political observers.
After the announcement, several pundits openly questioned whether Shapiro’s Jewish faith played a role in his exclusion from the ticket. Among those raising the issue was CNN anchor Jake Tapper, reflecting broader chatter within political media circles at the time.
Shapiro’s strong support for Israel following the October 7, 2023, terrorist attack by Hamas was also cited by some observers as a potential liability with progressive voters inside the Democratic Party. Those dynamics, critics argued, may have complicated his prospects in a national ticket increasingly shaped by internal ideological divisions.
In its reporting, the Times noted that Shapiro said he was pressed on additional Israel-related questions during the vetting process. In his book, Shapiro wrote that he found himself wondering whether those questions were uniquely directed at him as the only Jewish candidate under serious consideration, or whether others without federal experience were subjected to the same level of scrutiny on Israel.
“I wondered whether these questions were being posed to just me — the only Jewish guy in the running — or if everyone who had not held a federal office was being grilled about Israel in the same way,” Shapiro wrote, according to the Times.
Despite his discomfort, Shapiro described the vetting sessions overall as professional and businesslike. Still, he acknowledged that the experience left him uneasy. He wrote that he carried “a knot in my stomach through all of it,” suggesting the process took a personal toll even as it remained outwardly formal.
A representative for Harris did not immediately respond to the Times’ request for comment regarding Shapiro’s account. The revelations add a new layer to the behind-the-scenes story of the 2024 Democratic ticket, raising questions about how identity, foreign policy views, and internal party politics intersected during one of the most consequential vetting processes in recent memory.
