Pa. Gov. Josh Shapiro says Kamala Harris’ descriptions of him were false and intended to sell books

Gov. Josh Shapiro lashed out over former Vice President Kamala Harris’ portrayal of his interview to become her 2024 running mate, calling Harris’ retellings “complete and utter (expletive)” intended to sell books and “cover her (expletive),” according to The Atlantic.

Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s first-term Democratic governor now seen as a likely presidential contender in 2028, departed from his usual composed demeanor and rehearsed comments in the lengthy Atlantic profile published Wednesday, when journalist Tim Alberta asked the governor about Harris’ depiction of him in her new book.

In her book, titled “107 Days,” Harris described Shapiro as “poised, polished, and personable” when he traveled to Washington, D.C. to interview with Harris to become her running mate during her historic campaign against Donald Trump.

However, Harris said she suspected Shapiro would be unhappy as second-in-command. He “peppered” her with questions, she wrote, and said he asked questions about the vice president’s residence, “from the number of bedrooms to how he might arrange to get Pennsylvania artists’ work on loan from the Smithsonian.” The account aligns with reporting from The Inquirer when Harris ultimately picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over Shapiro, in part, because Shapiro was too ambitious to serve in a supporting role if chosen as her running mate.

But Shapiro, The Atlantic reported, was taken aback by the portrayal.

“She wrote that in her book? That’s complete and utter (expletive),” Shapiro reportedly told The Atlantic when asked about Harris’ account that he had been imagining the potential art for the vice presidential residence. He added: “I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies.”

The governor’s sharp-tongued frustration depicted in The Atlantic marked a rare departure for the image-conscious Shapiro, whose oration skills have been compared to those of former President Barack Obama, and who has been known to give smiling, folksy interviews laced with oft-repeated and carefully told anecdotes.

The wide-ranging, nearly 8,000-word profile in The Atlantic also detailed Shapiro’s loss of “some respect” for Harris during the 2024 election, including for her failure to step in sooner regarding former President Joe Biden’s visible decline, which had previously been unreported.

When Shapiro was asked by The Atlantic whether he felt betrayed by Harris’ comments in her book about him, given that the two have known each other for 20 years, he said: “I mean, she’s trying to sell books and cover her (expletive).”

He quickly reframed his response: “I shouldn’t say ‘cover her (expletive),’ I think that’s not appropriate,” he added. “She’s trying to sell books, period.”

The Atlantic piece, titled “What Josh Shapiro Knows About Trump Voters,” presented Shapiro as a popular Democratic governor in a critical swing state that went for Trump in 2024, and as a master political operator who has carefully built a public image as a moderate willing to work across the aisle or appoint Republicans to top cabinet positions. That image was tested this year during a protracted state budget impasse that lasted 135 days, as Shapiro was unable to strike a deal between the Democratic state House and GOP-controlled state Senate for nearly five months past the state budget deadline.

The Atlantic piece also outlined common criticisms of Shapiro throughout his two decades in Pennsylvania politics, including those from within the Democratic Party: He is too ambitious, with his sights set on the presidency, and his pragmatic approach often leaves him frustrating all sides, as evidenced in his 2023 deal-then-veto with state Senate Republicans over school vouchers. It also highlighted some of the top issues Shapiro will face if he chooses to run for president in 2028, including a need to take clearer stances on policy issues — a complaint often cited by Republicans and his critics. If he rises to presidential field, Shapiro will also have to face his past handling of a sexual harassment complaint against a former top aide that Shapiro claimed he knew very little about — despite the aide’s long-held reputation.

“The worst-kept secret in Pennsylvania politics is that the governor is disliked — in certain cases, loathed — by some of his fellow Democrats,” The Atlantic reported. Further, Alberta noted that when an unnamed Pennsylvania lawmaker received a call from a member of Harris’ vetting operation, the member said they had never seen “so many Democrats turning on one of their own.”

In addition to The Atlantic piece, Shapiro has been featured in several national profiles in recent weeks about his experience with political violence, after a Harrisburg man who told police he wanted to kill Shapiro broke into the governor’s residence in April and set several fires while Shapiro and his family slept upstairs. As one of the most prominent Jewish elected officials in the nation, Shapiro has frequently said that leaders must “bring down the temperature” in their rhetoric, and has tried to refocus his own messaging on the good that state governments can do to make people’s lives easier, such as permitting reforms and infrastructure improvements.

“The fact that people view institutions as incapable or unwilling to solve their problems is leading to hyper-frustration, which then creates anger,” Shapiro told The Atlantic. “And that anger forces people oftentimes into dark corners of the internet, where they find others who want to take advantage of their anger and try and convert that anger into acts of violence.”