By Reid J. Epstein, Theodore Schleifer and Nick Corasaniti
The competitive, divisive primary that many Democrats long wanted to avoid has arrived anyway — playing out largely behind closed doors in a fight over the bottom of the ticket.
The final stage of the campaign to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate reached something of an ugly phase in recent days as donors, interest groups and political rivals from the party’s moderate and progressive wings lobbied for their preferred candidates and passed around memos debating the contenders’ political weaknesses with key demographics.
They turned most sharply on one of the favorites to join the ticket, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has drawn opposition from progressives and even a senator in his home state.
The fissures among Democrats emerged as three leading contenders — Shapiro, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz — met with Harris at her residence in Washington on Sunday, before a decision that her campaign said would be announced by Tuesday.
Kevin Munoz, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, declined to comment on the Sunday meetings.
Harris is set to hit the campaign trail with her running mate this week, kicking off a five-day, seven-state tour with a Tuesday night rally in Philadelphia, where Shapiro is expected to be in attendance, whether he is her pick or not.
Progressive groups have trained their criticisms on Shapiro and Kelly, whom they accuse of being too conservative on key issues. Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, said during a Sunday interview on CBS that Kelly had “not really” assuaged the union’s concerns about his commitment to pro-labor legislation and that the organization had “bigger issues” with Shapiro’s support for school vouchers.
Major Democratic donors have signaled that they would be fine with any of the candidates on Harris’ list of finalists, but there are divisions among the biggest Democratic givers. A vigorous debate has been waged on an email group for the Democracy Alliance, where left-wing donors have expressed concerns about Shapiro.
Another group of progressive activists, communicating through an email group called Gamechanger Salon, has come out against Shapiro and pushed its members to highlight his stances on the Israel-Hamas war. The debate grew heated during a discussion about whether using the phrase “Genocide Josh” to describe Shapiro, who is an observant Jew, was antisemitic. An organizer called for calm and rebranded the email chain, “Why Josh Shapiro should not be the VP.” Some of the emails also called for members to push for Walz, who has become a favorite of the party’s most liberal contributors, about 60 of whom he addressed Friday.
One message, written by Billy Wimsatt, an executive director of a liberal donor group known as the Movement Voter Project, said Shapiro could cause a drop in turnout among progressive voters who are concerned about the war. “He risks significantly depressing enthusiasm for the Harris ticket among key constituencies of young voters, Arab and Muslim voters, and to some degree labor,” he wrote in an email thread, which was shared with The New York Times. “Tim Walz is the perfect Harris VP unicorn for this moment.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., who has long clashed with Shapiro, has also expressed displeasure at the prospect of the governor being elevated to a national ticket, according to two people who have spoken with him. One of his advisers called the Harris campaign to object to Shapiro, a development first reported by Politico.
Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro, declined to comment on the vice presidential selection process.
The growing attacks on Shapiro have been rebuked by some moderates in the party and others in the media. Joe Scarborough, host of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” issued a forceful defense of the Pennsylvania governor on the social platform X, saying the recent attacks on him were “a toxic mix of antisemitism, extremist views on Gaza, and jealous colleagues who don’t want to be blocked out of the presidential sweepstakes for the next decade.”
A group of progressive donors in recent days has been making a push for Walz. Over the past week, Democratic operatives including Doran Schrantz, an adviser to Faith in Minnesota PAC, and Wimsatt have circulated a memo called “The Case for Tim Walz for Vice President,” hoping to sway Harris.
A similar document touting Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who headlined a Harris fundraiser in New Hampshire on Saturday, was circulated last week to Democrats, including major donors.
On Sunday, Kelly posted to social media, then subsequently deleted, a message that curiously said he would now be focused on his home state.
“My background is a bit different than most politicians.” Kelly wrote. “I spent my life serving in the Navy and at NASA, where the mission always comes first. Now, my mission is serving Arizonans.”
Kelly’s spokesperson, Jacob Peters, said the post was deleted because it was being misunderstood.
Shapiro has emerged as the choice of the party’s pro-Israel donors, those with ties to the school-choice movement and business-friendly contributors in Silicon Valley. But his centrist positions that appeal to those groups are the same ones that make him the least favorite of the party’s most liberal funders.
An apparent compromise candidate such as Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, who has fans among the party’s more liberal and more centrist contributors, also could emerge as nominee. Beshear has spent time over the past two weeks auditioning before multiple groups of major donors who have been eager to kick the tires on him, including an invite-only session Friday evening, according to two people briefed on his activities.
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