Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro walks out of the players tunnel before a game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field on Nov. 16, 2025.

WASHINGTON – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro told Atlantic magazine that former Vice President Kamala Harris told “blatant lies” about him in the book about her failed presidential campaign.

Shapiro was a leading Democratic candidate for vice president, along with former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, when Harris campaigned against former President Donald Trump in 2024. She was in a pinch to find a running mate after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

But Harris wrote in her memoir “107 days” that she worried Shapiro would have trouble settling for the No. 2 slot on the ticket.

"At one point, he mused that he would want to be in the room for every decision,” Harris wrote. “I had a nagging concern that he would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership."

Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate. Shapiro and Buttigieg each endorsed her. And Shapiro remains a potential contender for president in 2028.

Tim Alberta, the Atlantic reporter who interviewed Shapiro, said the customarily unflappable politico became “unrecognizable” while discussing Harris and lost his equilibrium.

“I can tell you that her accounts are just blatant lies,” Shapiro told Alberta.

“I mean, she’s trying to sell books and cover her ass,” Shapiro added, before recovering and saying that it wasn’t appropriate for him to say that. “She’s trying to sell books. Period.”

Shapiro is a potential Democratic nominee for president because he leads a key swing state, although he trailed others, including Buttigieg, in a Granite State poll in October, in the first primary state of New Hampshire.

Shapiro became Pennsylvania's third Jewish governor in 2022, after serving as state attorney general and in the state House. He is seen as liberal on social issues such as abortion, but was also praised by conservatives for expanding school choice and removing the requirement of a college degree for 65,000 state government positions, his first act as a governor.

Shapiro was a victim of the violence plaguing politicians of both parties in the polarized country. The governor's mansion was firebombed in April while Shapiro and his family were inside but they escaped injury. The arsonist pleaded guilty in October.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Josh Shapiro says Kamala Harris told 'blatant lies' about him: report

Reporting by Bart Jansen, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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