If Kamala Harris picks Josh Shapiro as VP, can he remain Pennsylvania’s governor?
As rumors swirl throughout the political sphere, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has emerged as one of the most popular names in politics.
Vice President Kamala Harris is widely expected to seek the Democratic Party’s nomination now that President Joe Biden said he will not run for a second term. Thrust into the spotlight following a blowout 2022 election to become Pennsylvania’s governor, Shapiro now sits on a short list of potential vice presidential running mates should Harris campaign for the Oval Office.
In a statement posted on social media Sunday evening, Shapiro endorsed Harris as the Democrats’ next presidential nominee. A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the speculation surrounding Shapiro as a potential running mate.
“The best path forward for the Democratic Party is to quickly unite behind Vice President Harris and refocus on winning the presidency,” Shapiro’s July 21 statement reads. “I will do everything I can to help elect Kamala Harris as the 47th president of the United States.”
If Shapiro gets tapped by Harris or another nominee to run against former President Donald Trump in November, what might happen to his governorship in Pennsylvania? Here’s what you need to know, plus a brief look at Pennsylvania’s short history of presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Can Shapiro remain governor if he becomes a running mate in 2024?
Yes. The Pennsylvania Constitution does not prevent sitting governors or other elected officials from carrying out their duties while pursuing a higher political office. However, a successful election to another elected office (such as president or vice president) would disqualify Shapiro from serving as Pennsylvania’s governor.
The commonwealth’s constitution prevents state senators and representatives from holding other civil offices “to which a salary, fee or prerequisite is attached.” It also disqualifies members of Congress “or person[s] holding any office,” with the exception of attorney-at-law or in the National Guard or armed forces reserves, from serving as governor, lieutenant governor or attorney general.
If Shapiro’s post becomes vacant during his term — whether through resignation, death, conviction or impeachment — Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor becomes governor for the remainder of the term. For now, the succession would fall to Austin Davis, a Pittsburgh-area Democrat who became Pennsylvania’s first Black lieutenant governor in 2023 and, at 34 years old, remains the youngest person to hold such an office in the U.S. Davis would also wind up as the first person of color to become Pennsylvania governor if a vacancy developed.
Notably, if Pennsylvania’s governor is temporarily vacant due to disability, the commonwealth’s lieutenant governor is responsible for merely acting out the duties of the governor.
If both Pennsylvania’s offices for governor and lieutenant governor are vacant, the job falls to the president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania State Senate. Currently, that official is Kim Ward, a Pittsburgh-area Republican who briefly served as lieutenant governor for two weeks in January 2023 following Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman’s resignation after joining the U.S. Senate.
Have any previous Pennsylvania governors run for the White House?
Despite its enormous contributions to U.S. history and standing as the second state to join the union in 1787, Pennsylvania has a rather short history of viable presidential and vice presidential candidates — including a few who came from the governor’s office.
No sitting Pennsylvania governor has substantially pursued a presidential bid since Milton Shapp in the mid-1970s. He unsuccessfully vied for the 1976 Democratic nomination and failed to win even Pennsylvania in the primary elections before terminating his campaign and carrying out the rest of his term as governor through early 1979.
Before Shapp, Pennsylvania Gov. William Scranton entered the race for the 1964 Republican presidential nomination, but lost out to Barry Goldwater, who would later lose to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide general election. Due to then-existing Pennsylvania law, Scranton was term-limited out of the governor’s office by 1967 following his four-year term.
Robert E. Pattison, who served as Pennsylvania’s governor from 1883 to 1887 and from 1891 to 1895, was an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1896.
Another Pennsylvanian who pursued the presidency was Winfield Scott Hancock, a famed American Civil War general who narrowly lost to James A. Garfield in the 1880 presidential election. While serving Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate, Arlen Specter launched a Republican presidential campaign to challenge the incumbent Bill Clinton, but suspended his efforts before the November 1995 primary elections.
Pennsylvania claims only one elected vice president: George Mifflin Dallas, who served under President James K. Polk from 1845 to 1849. Throughout his life, Dallas also served as a U.S. senator, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, Philadelphia’s mayor and the U.S. minister to Russia and the United Kingdom.
James Buchanan, who served as president from 1857 to 1861, is the only Pennsylvania native to hold the nation’s highest office. Buchanan also remains the only U.S. president to stay a lifelong bachelor.
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