Govs. Shapiro, Whitmer stump for Kamala Harris in Montgomery County

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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer whipped up support at Wissahickon High School in Montgomery County on Monday afternoon for the presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala Harris. Following President Joe Biden’s announcement that he would not seek a second term, Harris rose to the position of presumed Democratic nominee for president.

The two governors told the audience of several hundred that Harris is the obvious choice for voters in November. Speaking first, Whitmer called the vice president “tough.”

“As [California’s] attorney general, she went after the big banks and got people their money back,” she said. “As senator, she worked across the aisle on legislation to keep people safe and worked with Republicans to protect our nation from cyberattacks. And as vice president, she helped bring jobs home, lowered the cost of health care and led the fight to protect reproductive freedom.”

Shapiro echoed Whitmer in his praise for Harris, noting that they were both attorneys general earlier in their careers. Harris, he said, was “a tough-as-nails prosecutor who went after dangerous criminals, but also had a heart to stand up for our victims.”

“She wasn’t afraid to take on the powerful,” he told the crowd. “She took on those opioid companies. She took on the big banks. She took on the polluters. And when she looked them in the eye, she won every single time … She learned to fight for the underdog. She stood up every day as the United States senator, fighting for the middle class, fighting every day for our working families.”

The pair also blasted Donald Trump as a danger to democracy and to reproductive health rights.

“The contrast in this election couldn’t be more clear,” Whitmer said. “Donald Trump bragged about overturning Roe v. Wade and sexually assaulting women …  The appointment of Supreme Court justices for rolling back rights, he cut taxes for himself and his buddies and he tried overturning an election.”

“He’s got a record of failure,” Shapiro added. “Fewer people went to work in Pennsylvania when Donald Trump was president. Fewer roads got repaired. Fewer bridges got built. And let me tell you what else there was less of when he was president — there was less freedom when he was president. Donald Trump packed the Supreme Court with his handpicked extremists, and after he was done packing the court, one of the first big things they did was rip away the freedom from millions of women across this country.”

New excitement

The crowd at the school seemed abuzz with newfound fervor, demonstrating the excitement and energy that appears to ignite among Democrats since Harris became the nominee last week.

“I feel like this is a very historic and life-changing moment for young girls just like me, and it could definitely shape tomorrow’s democracy and the future of America,” 18-year-old Shiva Sharma told WHYY News. “It is really important to get the youth vote out this election, and it’s exciting because this is our first time electing a woman of color into the highest office of the United States of America.”

Carole Kenny, an Upper Merion Township supervisor, said that she became more optimistic with Harris likely at the top of the ticket.

“I’m so excited about Kamala Harris’ potential run for the White House,” she said. “She was a prosecutor. He’s a felon. I think there’s no better combination that we could possibly have to beat him at his own game.”

“The energy in this room was … I didn’t feel this excitement amongst my peers and friends up until a week and half ago,” added Doug Bower. “But now you can tell this was one heck of a shot in the arm.”

Project 2025

Referencing Project 2025, Shapiro told the audience that a second Trump administration presents more danger.

“He’s told us what he wants to do,” he said.

Democrats are asserting Trump’s campaign is linked with Project 2025, an initiative by The Heritage Project to provide a blueprint for a second Trump administration to employ “day one” in the pursuit of a conservative agenda.

More than 100 other conservative political groups were involved in the development of the project, which includes plans to prop up the executive branch through giving the president greater power beyond what currently is proscribed by the constitution. The project aims to replace many of the federal government’s civil service employees with political appointees, placing the Department of Justice completely under White House control, eliminating entire federal agencies like the Department of Education, ending carbon gas emission reduction efforts, removing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market, banning pornography and terminating the legal status of 500,000 Dreamers.

Trump has distanced himself from the plan.

“I know nothing about Project 2025,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. “I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

However, many planks in the Trump 2024 platform are identical to Project 2025, and scores of former Trump White House officials have been involved in the plan’s development. Additionally, according to Heritage Foundation president Dr. Kevin Roberts, as recently as last year, Trump was thoroughly briefed on the plan.

“It’s scary what he’s proposed in this Project 2025,” Shapiro said before adding that he was optimistic that a Harris ticket would protect democracy much the same way the Founding Fathers did at Independence Hall a few miles away.

VP search

Both Shapiro and Whitmer sit on a short list of presidential VP picks that includes Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper. Other names under consideration include Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Shapiro and Whitmer are seen as valuable in helping Harris in the general election by increasing Democrats’ odds of winning one of their respective and crucial swing states.

Neither mentioned Harris’ VP pick but both praised each other’s performance as governor.

“You know why they call her ‘Big Gretchen’ in Michigan, because she gets big things done,” Shapiro said of his counterpart.

“He’s gotten a heck of a lot done in just over well over the last year and a half and as another example of Democratic governors who believe in our three-part strategy — get shit done,” Whitmer said of Shapiro.

Bower said that he thinks Shapiro would make a good pick but didn’t believe that his addition to the ticket was necessary to win Pennsylvania. He suggested someone like Cooper would help more in the electoral competition.

“I think Pennsylvania is winnable without Josh being on the ticket,” Bower said. “North Carolina may not be winnable without Cooper.”