PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is opening up about his Jewish faith at a pivotal moment in his political rise.
The Democratic governor is marching toward reelection in one of the nation’s most important swing states, a victory that could propel him into the very top of his party’s presidential nomination fight. But he’s also navigating physical and political risks that have threatened his family’s life and his standing in a party that’s deeply divided by Israel’s war in Gaza.
Here are some highlights from a recent interview with Shapiro:
AP: Is the April 13, 2025, attack on your home, as you and your family slept, still something you think about on a regular basis?
SHAPIRO: I’m one of the fortunate ones in that I wasn’t killed the way Melissa Hortman was or Charlie Kirk was. I wasn’t injured the way Gabby Giffords or Steve Scalise were physically. But I think we also walk around with the emotional scars of it. To me, it’s less the dealing with the emotions as governor, to be honest with you, it’s far more dealing with it as a dad and a husband and this idea that I’m doing this work that I love, that I find great purpose in that I’ve dedicated my life to, and that thing I love to do brought my family close to death, and that’s a hard thing to work through as a dad, still working through it candidly,
AP: How serious of a problem is antisemitism within the Democratic Party right now?
SHAPIRO: I think antisemitism is a very real problem in both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Please don’t clip my words there. It is a problem on the political left and the political right, and there should be no place for it when someone like JD Vance allows a Nick Fuentes to have a platform to speak or Tucker Carlson to have a platform to speak, and doesn’t condemn it. That just makes antisemitism fester on the right. I have called it out on the political left and the political right. And I think anyone who’s trying to lead this country, anyone who’s trying to lead a state, lead a community, has a responsibility to call it out no matter which side of the aisle it’s on.
AP: What do you say to members of your own party who call you things like “Genocide Josh” and just generally believe that your view on Israel’s war in Gaza is deeply wrong?
SHAPIRO: I want to dialogue back with them, and what I say to them is, there’s really two conversations here. One on antisemitism and hatred and bigotry, and on that, that’s a black and white issue. There’s no nuance, and we should all be able to agree on that, that antisemitism is wrong, hatred and bigotry in any form is wrong.
The second conversation is over what should the policy of the United States be in the Middle East. And on that, it’s full of nuance, and we can have honest disagreements. I don’t think resorting to name calling helps us find common ground, but I’ll certainly sit at the table with anybody who wants to have an honest discussion over policy differences. When I analyze Middle East policy, and I explained this to them. I’m focused on what is in the best interest of the United States of America, what advances our national security, what advances our economic interests, what creates more stability in the globe? And in my opinion, that’s having a safe and secure Israel side by side with a safe and secure Palestinian state, where Palestinian leadership recognizes Israel’s right to exist, and where kids growing up on both sides of the border have an opportunity to grow up with promise and prosperity in their future.
AP: Kamala Harris’ team asked you if you were a double agent for Israel. You wrote in your book that the question “said a lot” about some of the people around the VP. What does it say? Are they antisemitic?
SHAPIRO: No, I didn’t label it that way. Look, I think the people in that process had a right to ask me whatever questions they wanted, and I was honored and humbled to go through that process. … I thought it was important to express how I felt during that and that’s what I did. As for what their motivations were, I think they’re going to have to answer those questions.
AP: Does your faith inform your perspective on President Trump at all?
SHAPIRO: I don’t check with my faith as to where I’m going to be on an issue. But I think there’s something deeper there, right? I mean, my faith teaches me to love thy neighbor. My faith teaches me to have respect for others. And this is a president who at every turn scapegoats others, disrespects others, attacks others, and I don’t think that he’s sort of violating the tenants of my faith as an American Jew, I think he’s frankly violating the tenants of our shared faith and our shared humanity. And I try and speak to that.
My faith teaches me to feed the hungry and motivates me to help those who are in need. And I frankly think the president could use a little bit more shared faith and shared humanity’s life, and maybe he wouldn’t be so cruel. This is a president who engages in cruelty and corruption, brings chaos every single day.
AP: Do you confront antisemitism on a day-to-day basis?
SHAPIRO: Yes, if you’re looking at it from the standpoint of the threats that are made against me that are motivated by faith, sure.
On Friday, a guy was arrested for terroristic threats and stalking me and my family in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. So I think it is true that there’s a rise in threats and a rise in hate directed our way, but it doesn’t deter me, and in part, it doesn’t deter me because I refuse to live in fear, refuse to back down.
And there’s just people bringing a lot of light and joy and and who respect their neighbors no matter what their faith is, respect me, even though we worship differently, and where I connect with people on a really deep level. So in some ways, even though the threats are increasing, the light I see and the joy I find in others is also increasing, and that allows me to frankly ignore the noise and ignore the hate and focus on the goodness in people.
Steve Peoples, The Associated Press
