Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro HAS Issues With His Own State Party People….

The Pennsylvania Democratic Governor, doing a book tour,  is having backroom troubles with some Democratic official’s…..

Seems he does NOT come over as such a ‘nice guy’ when the camera’s are gone….

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is wildly popular with voters in his critical battleground state. But among some top Democrats there who know him personally, feelings are lukewarm — sometimes even resentful.

• Tim Alberta, a reporter for The Atlantic who recently profiled Shapiro, told us he “was really surprised by how unpopular he is with elected Democrats in Pennsylvania.”
• “There are lots of people the governor counts as allies — people who raise money for him, support his reelection campaign, say all the right things publicly — who have serious beefs with him privately.”

Why it matters: The behind-the-scenes ill will toward Shapiro, who just launched a multi-city book tour, could haunt the governor if he runs for president in 2028, as many expect.

😤 The intrigue: Many Democratic elected officials and party leaders in Pennsylvania privately have fumed about Shapiro to Axios through the years, even as they’ve supported him publicly.

• Several have claimed Shapiro has been willing to push aside allies to get ahead, which has created a slew of politicians quietly holding grudges.
• “He’s always all about him,” a Pennsylvania Democratic elected official told Axios in an interview. “When you first meet him, you have all these high hopes and see the aspiration and think you’ll share it. But you kind of come away feeling either used or like a pawn.”
• Another longtime Democratic lawmaker in Pennsylvania said: “Someone once said to me that everyone knows Josh would knife his own lifelong best friend in the back if it got him one extra polling point. That is a widely held view in political circles in Pennsylvania.”

What they’re saying: “This is an irresponsible non-story searching for anonymous sources to make news when there is none,” countered Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder.

• Bonder disputed the idea that Shapiro isn’t a team player, pointing to him “helping win and maintain the state House majority, to raising millions of dollars and campaigning to protect the [state] Supreme Court, to putting his neck on the line for Democratic candidates for local office, to rebuilding and investing millions in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, to leading the fight to win four U.S. House seats this November.”

🔎 Zoom in: Despite their frustration, many Pennsylvania Democrats clamor to campaign alongside Shapiro — a nod to his 60% approval rating among voters. Even critics acknowledge his long coattails have helped down-ballot Democrats.

• Shapiro also has cultivated relationships with key national Democrats, including donors and people in former President Obama’s orbit.

But the acrimony within his state party appeared to harm Shapiro’s chances of becoming the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, as then-Vice President Harris’ aides heard complaints about him…..

…

Few Pennsylvania Democrats have gone public with their complaints, partly because they’re afraid of the political consequences of turning on the governor.

• Besides high approval ratings, Shapiro has a $30 million campaign war chest.
• And even some Pennsylvania Democrats who’ve criticized his style as too sharp-elbowed say they think he’d make a good president.

More…

Note….

Then there was this from his ‘Where We Keep the Light,’ book tour….

In his new memoir, the Pennsylvania governor suggests that when Kamala Harris’s team vetted him to be her running mate, aides focused on Israel to an extent he found offensive.