Harris’s vice presidential picks could have problems with some of the Left

As Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee, picks her running mate, some of her options may have problems within key coalitions of the Democratic Party. 

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) are reportedly Harris’s two top picks, but parts of their past while in office may be unappealing to factions of the Left. Harris ran a progressive campaign during her 2020 run but has toned down some of her ideas while in the White House, and it is unclear how progressive of a campaign she plans to run this year. 

Kelly and Shapiro bring Harris the opportunity to win two crucial swing states, Arizona and Pennsylvania, but as they are vetted on the national stage, some Democrats may be wary of them.

Kelly on labor

While Kelly has only been in office for four years, he has won two statewide elections in Arizona after filling John McCain’s seat after he died. His time in office has been relatively quiet, with little public controversy.

Kelly, however, has not signed on to a key piece of labor legislation, which could spell trouble for the ticket’s support from labor unions. Some union officials told ABC News that Kelly’s unwillingness to support the PRO Act, a piece of legislation that looks to make the path toward forming unions and winning labor contracts easier, should be a red flag.

“Why would the Democrats even consider a senator for the vice presidency if the senator doesn’t support the PRO Act?” said John Samuelsen, president of the Transport Workers Union and an ally of President Joe Biden. “It’s the most important piece of national legislation workers have right now.”

Of the 51 Senate Democrats, 48 support the PRO Act. Kelly has said he supports the legislation’s goals but has “some concerns.” During his 2022 Senate run, Kelly was backed by several Arizona labor unions.

“Only 3 Democrats refused to sign on to the PRO Act, one of whom was Mark Kelly,” Richard Bensinger, former organizing director at the AFL-CIO, said on Sunday after Harris announced her candidacy. “The right to organize unions is the most important thing to labor so that’s a hard no.”

The Biden-Harris administration has strongly supported unions as Biden has throughout his political career. On Monday, the AFL-CIO, which is the biggest federation of unions in the United States and has long supported Biden, announced its endorsement of Harris.

“From day one, Vice President Kamala Harris has been a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said. “At every step in her distinguished career in public office, she’s proven herself a principled and tenacious fighter for working people and a visionary leader we can count on. From taking on Wall Street and corporate greed to leading efforts to expand affordable child care and support vulnerable workers, she’s shown time and again that she’s on our side.”

Shapiro on school vouchers and Israel

Shapiro is popular in Pennsylvania, according to a May poll from the Philadelphia Inquirer, New York Times, and Siena College, which found 57% of residents approving of his leadership. His popularity spans different parties, as the poll found 77% of Democrats, 42% of Republicans, and 39% of independents approve of Shapiro’s time in office. 

But he may prove to be unpopular with coalitions of the Democratic Party for his stances on Israel and school vouchers. 

Shapiro, who is Jewish, has been steadfast in his support for Israel throughout the Israel-Hamas war, which could alienate a vocal part of the Left that has backed anti-Israel stances since the Oct. 7 attacks. 

“Israel not only has a right, they have a responsibility to rid the region of Hamas and the terror that Hamas can perpetrate,” Shapiro said in December, calling on the U.S. to “help support the Israeli people once the battle is over in finding their footing again.”

He has also been criticized by the Council on American-Islamic Relations and 43 Pennsylvania Muslim organizations for refusing to call for a ceasefire in the region as other Democrats have done.

“At a time when governors of California and New Jersey have underlined in public statements their support for a ceasefire in Gaza, Gov. Shapiro has failed to do that,” the statement from CAIR read.

“His attacks on academic freedom, intentionally depicting protests in a negative light, failure to care for and listen to Palestinian Pennsylvanians whose families are being massacred day in and out by Israeli government, and his behind-the-scenes antagonization of community organizations cannot be ignored and easily forgiven,” the statement continued.

It is unclear exactly how Harris will approach Israel, but she has proven sympathetic to the loss of life in the Gaza Strip due to the war. While Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington this week, she plans to meet with him privately and skip his congressional address.

When Shapiro ran for governor in 2022, he touted his support for Lifeline Scholarships, a school voucher program that would give students in low-performing school districts vouchers for private schools. School vouchers have been a Republican ideal for some time, and many Democrats have been opposed to the program.

While in office, he faced pressure from Democratic lawmakers and backed down on supporting school vouchers by removing them from the state budget, which angered Pennsylvania Republican lawmakers with whom he negotiated the budget.

Some believe his support for vouchers could “pave his way to the White House” as a centrist, but others see Shapiro’s support as isolating the pro-public school and pro-teachers union faction of the party.