Some Jewish Democrats wonder if America is ready for a Jewish vice president

Josh Shapiro’s advisers debated the early seconds of his first ad of the 2022 Pennsylvania governor’s campaign: he was going to start by saying that he makes sure to be home every Friday night for dinner with his family. But should his script call it “Sabbath dinner”? Should the shot of the table show a challah bread?

Josh Shapiro’s advisers debated the early seconds of his first ad of the 2022 Pennsylvania governor’s campaign: He was going to start by saying that he makes sure to be home every Friday night for dinner with his family. But should his script call it “Sabbath dinner”? Should the shot of the table show a challah bread? After all, the last time a guy named Shapiro had been elected governor of Pennsylvania, he had years earlier anglicized his name to Shapp. The answers were yes and yes. Shapiro’s wife Lori even baked the braided loaves herself. Now, with Shapiro very much in contention in Kamala Harris’ rushed running mate search, the Democratic world – already divided over the politics of Israel in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack – is wondering whether the US would really be ready for a Jewish vice president — and the first Black and South Asian woman president, who happens to be married to a Jewish man. While there is another Jewish governor, J.B. Pritzker of Illinois, who has also already been through two rounds of vetting interviews with Harris’ staff, it’s the Pennsylvania governor – with his outspoken views on Judaism and Israel – who has been the focus as Harris aides are looking at who would help the ticket. Shapiro’s home battleground state isn’t the only factor; the conversation is also about his potential wider appeal in the “Blue Wall” states, about how Jewish populations are bigger than the 2020 margins of victory in many battlegrounds, and how his selection would play with the Arab American population in Michigan and progressives overall. Some pro-Palestinian organizers, amplified by groups like the Democratic Socialists of America and the Sunrise Movement, have been taken to calling him “Genocide Josh” on social media — even though the governor has never cast a vote on any foreign policy issue and the statements he has made about Israel have been more pointed than other prospects, but not substantively different.