EXCLUSIVE: If all goes to plan, America and the world will know in the next few hours who Kamala Harris has picked to be her running mate against Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. However, in the corridors of Hollywood power and money, an overwhelming favorite choice has emerged.
“Josh Shapiro,” one agency executive declares in a statement echoed around town today. “Pennsylvania wins the election,” the exec promptly added of why the Keystone Stone state’s governor would be the best fit for the Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee’s just over two-week-long White House bid in a still tight Electoral College battle with Trump.
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With the Veep decision coming down to the wire ahead of the Democrats’ convention in Chicago starting on August 19, Gov. Shapiro, along with Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota and Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), individually met with the vice president over the weekend at her official residence near DC. While Harris has been in the Situation Room most of the day with President Joe Biden getting briefed on a conflict between Israel and Iran over the assassination of a Hamas leader last month, the VP rumor mill has gone into overdrive, with Shapiro in the spotlight.
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“This is like a mini-primary for the second spot, with one vote that matters,” a producer with deep Democratic donor ties told Deadline. “Harris can do no wrong right now, so whoever she picks people will get behind,” he went on to say.
Harris is said to have made her decision earlier Monday, we hear, but nothing has been made public on a hectic day in Washington and New York.
As tensions rise in the Middle East again and the stock market down sharply Monday, Harris is expected to unveil her VP selection on social media. soon, followed by a joint rally in Philadelphia on Tuesday evening. Pulling a page from Bill Clinton and Al Gore’s bus trip together after the 1992 DNC convention, the veep and the veep-to-be are presently scheduled to then go on a four-day road trip to the battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, ending in Arizona and Nevada on August 10.
“Whoever wins Pennsylvania, wins the White House, so ask yourself – who do you think Harris is leaning towards?” another source very connected in L.A. and DC rhetorically exclaimed today. “They know each other well, get along, and that chemistry is important,” the source added, noting California-born Harris and Shapiro both were the Attorney General of their respective states and early supporters of Barack Obama’s presidential ambitions.
“Shapiro is good on TV, good on social, looks straight out of West Wing casting,” a big time donor jokes of the bespectacled Governor. In that vein, during his successful 2022 campaign for Pennsylvania’s top job, Shapiro actually enlisted members of the cast of The West Wing for a virtual fundraising event, including Allison Janney, Melissa Fitzgerald, Dule Hill, Bradley Whitford, Mary McCormack and Richard Schiff.
As well as that West Wing fundraiser two years ago, Shapiro did raise money from Los Angeles donors during his gubernatorial campaign. Among those who gave to his campaign were Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, who each gave $100,000, as well as Netflix’s Reed Hastings, who gave $50,000, according to the National Institute on Money in Politics. Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign raised $416,113 from entertainment sources; the organization calculated. That is a fraction of the $73 million Shapiro ultimately spent on the race, per the AP.
Although Shapiro was not the ubiquitous L.A. presence of some other candidates last cycle, he does have a personal connection to the business: His brother-in-law is Jonathan E. Steinberg, the writer, producer and showrunner, whose credits include shows like Jericho and The Old Man and Percy Jackson & the Olympians.
While some industry politicos may have their preferences for VP, attention is still focused on the turnaround in enthusiasm from a month ago, when there was despondency and division in the donor class over Joe Biden’s prospects.
Mathew Littman, the former Biden speechwriter who leads a group of creative professionals engaged in Democratic politics, called The Working Group, said of the VP prospects, “All of them seem fine. The bench is so deep at this point.”
In the first few days after Harris started racking up endorsements, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina took their names out of contention for the VP slot. On the subject of the Dems’ deep bench, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Andy Beshear of Kentucky’s names aren’t really in contention anymore, with both seen as long shots at this point. Additionally, though 2020 candidate and current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg is beloved among the base, in Hollywood and elsewhere, and seen as a contender one day, the combination of a Black woman and a gay man on the Democratic ticket was sadly seen as “too risky in a today’s divided climate,” as one source put it.
Despite some recent questions about a nearly $300,000 payout last year to settle a sexual harassment complaint against a close adviser of Shapiro’s and attacks on his stance on Israel, the Pennsylvania governor has been on the stump for Harris like a VP candidate in all but name for several days.
Others have a great deal of skepticism about the rationale for Shapiro as someone who can deliver Pennsylvania. There is also the worry, including among Jewish Democrats, that his selection will re-ignite Democratic divisions with the far left on Israel-Gaza. Shapiro is Jewish, and one industry politico, worries that his selection would bring “the Middle East front and center.”
Others, though, believe that Shapiro will with the Hollywood donors essential to the Democrats’ campaigns up and down ballot.
“Governor Shapiro knows Capitol Hill, strong on Israel …and has 14% of Trump voters in Pennsylvania approving of him,” a long time Tinseltown operative stated of the 51-year-old career politician. “People out here don’t know him well, but what they do know they like, and they sense a winning ticket,” a fundraiser frequenting producer said succinctly.
Popular in Hollywood circles, former fighter pilot and astronaut Kelly was seen as the VP front runner in the early days after President Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed a poll surging Harris. Yet, over the last two weeks Kelly’s star has dimmed next to the openly campaigning Walz and loyal surrogate Shapiro. On Sunday, Sen. Kelly seemed to signal his VP fate had been decided when he tweeted: “Now, my mission is serving Arizonans.” Sen. Kelly quickly deleted the posting as pundits read the tea leaves.
“I’d go for Walz, I want it to be Walz,” a filmmaker told us of the two-term North Star State governor and former college football coach. While Governor Walz, who is part of a Harris fundraiser tonight in his home state, is widely praised personally and politically by many insiders we spoke to for this story, he has a bit of a blast from the past taint on him some say. “Tim Walz is like Tim Kaine,” a contributor to many a presidential bid said, referencing the Virginia senator who was Hillary Clinton’s running mate in 2016. “He’s a safe choice, good guy, but he doesn’t bring much to the table, and we need all we can get against Trump right now.”
“This is all about the best teammate for Kamala to defeat Trump,” asserts a seasoned deep pocketed donor and producer. “That’s all that matters now, while we have momentum, beating Trump.”