The 2028 presidential race is still well over a year away from beginning in earnest. But if there’s any indication about whether Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, long considered a rising star in the Democratic Party, is seriously considering running, it’s that the moderate swing-state governor recently sat down for interviews for two major magazine features — in The Atlantic and The New Yorker — both published in the last week. 

Shapiro faced questions about his ambitions, his successes and failures and his take on the increasingly divisive and vitriolic nature of American politics. The two interviews also offer a fresh look at how Shapiro, one of the most prominent Jewish politicians in America, thinks about and practices Judaism from his perch in Harrisburg. 

When he ran for governor in 2022, his first major campaign ad featured footage of him and his family observing Shabbat. He told The Atlantic’s Tim Alberta that Friday night dinners are “still a sacrosanct moment for our family.” But he also shared that he and his family have lately attended synagogue services “far less than at any other point in our lives.”

Shapiro regularly invokes religion in public addresses, choosing to speak about “my faith” rather than more specifically referring to his Jewish faith. 

“I feel more connected to my faith today than at any other time in my life. Truly. And I probably pray more now than at any other time in my life. But my connection to an institution of prayer, or a sort of formal structure of that prayer, has dramatically decreased,” Shapiro shared. “The sort of ritualistic practices became less of a focus of the way we practice our faith — with the exception, of course, of Friday nights.” 

In conversation with The New Yorker’s Benjamin Wallace-Wells, Shapiro opened up about the arson attack on the governor’s residence in April, hours after his family had concluded their Passover Seder. At the October sentencing hearing for the assailant, Shapiro said for the first time that he may have been targeted, in part, for his Jewish faith. 

“The prosecutor felt it was important to introduce into evidence the bomber’s claims that he did that because of ‘what I did to the Palestinians,’ so clearly there was some motivation because of my faith,” Shapiro told The New Yorker, which reported that the dining room — now restored after being severely burned — features a small display of charred cups and dishes from the Seder, to remember that frightening evening. 

But Shapiro’s subsequent comments backed away from personally tagging an antisemitic motive on the perpetrator: “I think it is dangerous for you or anyone else to think about those who perpetrate these violent attacks as linear thinkers, meaning that they have a left-wing ideology or a right-wing ideology, or that they have a firm set of beliefs the way you might or I might. These are clearly irrational thinkers.”

Shapiro talked to The New Yorker about rising antisemitism in the U.S., and said that he disagreed with President Donald Trump’s handling of antisemitism. Trump “is using Jews as his excuse for trying to take over universities and restrict their funding,” Shapiro said. But he does not deny that Jewish students were targeted, sometimes violently, on American campuses after the Oct. 7 attacks. “These are crimes,” Shapiro said. “And to me, that’s where a line was crossed.” He flexed his gubernatorial power to pressure the University of Pennsylvania — albeit indirectly — to crack down on antisemitism. 

Ultimately, as Shapiro continues in a political career that has so far only taken him higher, often with great momentum, he will face a question beyond just who is the best candidate in 2028: Can a Jewish person get elected president in the U.S.? The Atlantic asked Shapiro directly.

“There aren’t a whole lot of folks who pray like me,” Shapiro acknowledged. But, he added, “I have found that by living openly and proudly with my faith that it’s brought me closer to the people of Pennsylvania. And I think the people of Pennsylvania are pretty indicative of where large swaths of the American people are.”

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has repeatedly made headlines for his sharpening criticism of Israel’s operations in Gaza while bashing pro-Israel groups, addressed two synagogues in his district this weekend about Israel policy and antisemitism, fielding questions from congregants.

Khanna, considered to be a 2028 presidential contender, addressed Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos after Friday evening Shabbat services, and Congregation Emanu-El in San Jose on Saturday. Khanna’s office shared excerpts of both events with Jewish Insider.

Though Khanna is co-sponsoring a resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide, he gave a somewhat equivocal response on the issue at Congregation Beth Am, saying that there is significant disagreement on the use of the term, even within his own family, and acknowledging that its usage is “emotionally charged.”

“I believe that people of good faith can disagree on what to call it. I have said that I would defer to the international bodies and that the United States should follow international law,” Khanna continued. “What I do know is that what happened, in my view, was not right. Even though Israel was attacked and Oct. 7 was a terrorist attack, I think [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s response was disproportionate.”

Asked about former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s famous maxim, “If the Arabs put down their weapons today, there would be no more violence. If the Jews put down their weapons today, there would be no more Israel,” Khanna said that the “history is so complex.”

He said that both Israelis and Palestinians have strong claims to the land, while acknowledging that Israel had previously agreed to a partition of the state while the Palestinians rejected the existence of Israel.

“Obviously it’s a complex situation,” Khanna said. “All I can say is, now it seems to be the best chance for peace — is for both people to have a state basically under a 1967 framework with some adjustments as the way forward. … I don’t think the cycle of violence can continue. I think we have to try.”

He said that would require backing from regional powers in the Arab League and Palestinian guarantees of Israeli security, as well as the removal of Hamas from power. But he also acknowledged that Israelis “don’t trust the idea, even the left, of giving Palestinians a state because of what happened on Oct. 7.”

He emphasized that he believes that Israel “should exist as a Jewish and democratic state,” emphasizing that others on the left disagree with him on that point.

Khanna argued that he had “initially defended for a few months [after Oct. 7] Israel’s right to self-defense” and faced protests for doing so, “but by December, when Netanyahu had destroyed about eight out of 10 of the Hamas battalions and when President [Joe] Biden had the first deal for hostages, I thought that the military solution to the war was over. I did not think they would achieve more militarily.”

He added that he does not think that it is possible to remove Hamas from power in Gaza by military means, and that the “cost of human life was way too high [in the war]  … that this was not advancing peace and it was not a proportionate response in terms of achieving a better outcome for people in Gaza or Israel.”

He said he did not think the U.S. should have continued providing offensive weapons to Israel while the war was ongoing.

Khanna said he has told Netanyahu that he may have won the battle against Israel’s terrorist enemies but is “losing the war. You’re losing every American under 50 and you need the United States.”

Khanna asserted that there is a significant generational divide among Jewish Americans and Americans on Israel and Gaza — “one of the starkest generational divides that I’ve seen, not just among the Jewish-American community, but in general.”

He suggested that New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s outspoken anti-Israel stance was a major reason the democratic socialist won the mayoral race, and that a “staggering amount” of young Jewish Americans supported Mamdani.

Polling has shown that a majority of Jewish New Yorkers voted against the mayor-elect and that a strong majority of Jews of all ages remain strongly connected to Israel.

Khanna said that he’s also seeing a similar trend among young Republicans, citing a conversation with a Republican friend, whose son told Khanna that Israel is the only issue on which he agrees with the congressman.

Asked about the future of Israelis living beyond the Green Line in the West Bank, Khanna — who has been pushing for the United States to unilaterally recognize Palestinian statehood — said that issue would have to be negotiated between Israel and the Palestinians.

“Some of them, they probably would have to leave, like they did when [former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon vacated Gaza,” Khanna said. “Some, if they stayed, there probably has to be some negotiation or compensation for that.”

Some critics, including fellow Democrats, of Khanna’s statehood recognition proposal say that outstanding issues such as Israeli and Palestinian borders, which must be resolved in negotiations, are one reason not to recognize Palestinian statehood at this point.

Khanna said that there can be “zero tolerance for antisemitism” and that political leaders need to call it out, regardless of which side of the aisle it comes from. “It can’t become a political football,” he added.

The California congressman himself has on multiple occasions faced criticism for associating with known antisemites — including appearing at an anti-Israel conference alongside speakers who defended terrorism and posting on social media a clip that included a prominent antisemitic conspiracy theorist — backpedaling on those associations after the fact.

Khanna said he created a point of contact in his office for individuals facing antisemitic discrimination to report their experiences. Many who have contacted him, he said, have been young people — Jewish clubs unable to bring speakers to campus, students uncomfortable in their classrooms — as well as a Jewish person feeling uncomfortable at their place of employment.

“I have, in a number of instances, reached out and said I don’t think that that’s acceptable,” Khanna said. “We need to make sure that this community is accept[ing] and open to people of all different backgrounds.”

He also said that more education about the Holocaust is critical and that the Department of Justice must have the resources it needs to protect Jewish communities and prosecute antisemitic hate crimes and threats.

Khanna also spoke about what he views as the future of the Democratic Party — notably offering support for two moderate Democratic governors while implicitly distancing himself from his home state’s governor.

“The last thing we need is the pundits for the party picking who the next leader should be,” Khanna said. “We need people to go earn it. … Go campaign, go work hard, share your vision with people, see if it resonates, have a primary of 10, 15 thoughtful people sharing the vision for the country, and don’t anoint who the next leader should be. That will be a colossal mistake.”

He praised Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro — both of whom are more moderate than Khanna — as “offering a vision of how we move forward.”

But he said he “completely reject[s]” those in the party who push for  fighting “fire with fire” — an implicit dig at California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has adopted a Trumpian posture on social media to criticize the president and Republicans.

Khanna said he wants to pursue a “positive vision” to “heal this country” and “move this nation forward,” focusing on a “unifying economic message” — ”I call it economic patriotism as a new national purpose. Americans working together to build up every town so that every family has a chance of success in a modern economy, and so we can be a cohesive, multiracial democracy that leads the world.”

Though he has said he believes that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) should step down from his leadership position and called for “the old guard to make way” and let a “new generation of leadership” take charge, he said that he would support House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) as speaker of the House if the Democrats retake the chamber. 

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), a potential 2028 presidential candidate, is sparring with AIPAC on social media over ads the group ran criticizing his support for a House resolution describing the war in Gaza as a genocide.

“AIPAC just poured money into a series of ads in my district calling me a liar for speaking out about the truth in Gaza,” Khanna said in a video posted to X on Tuesday. “They’re asking you to disbelieve what you’ve seen on your own phone with your own eyes. AIPAC wants to weaken me electorally and prevent me from having a seat at the table in the leadership of our country.”

Khanna went on to link the ad campaign to a range of other issues unrelated to AIPAC, saying that he will not “cave to special interests” on health care, tech and artificial intelligence; bend to “the Epstein class, rich and powerful men who are totally disconnected from ordinary Americans and believe the rules don’t apply to them”; or accept PAC, lobbyist or corporate funding.

The ad in question, which ran on social media and digital platforms, proclaims in bold text: “Ro Khanna is lying to you.” It references his support for the Gaza genocide resolution, led by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), stating, “Claims of genocide are a dangerous attempt to distort facts and rewrite history.” AIPAC is running identical ads against a series of far-left Democrats supporting the same resolution.

AIPAC spokesperson Marshall Wittmann said that Khanna is echoing antisemitic tropes.

“The war in Gaza has profoundly impacted millions of Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, yet rather than helping build a better future of peace, Rep. Khanna is instead rewriting history and parroting a dangerous blood libel,” Wittmann said in a statement. “The only genocide in this war happened on October 7, when Hamas openly admitted it wanted to kill every Israeli man, woman, and child it could. Our ad simply informs his constituents about his support for legislation that is based on a lie, and it evidently got under his skin.”

In a post on X, AIPAC added, “The same ad is running featuring other cosponsors. You’re not that special.”

Wittmann did not say how much money AIPAC had spent on the ads. According to Meta’s ad library tool, the group spent between $900 and $999 running the ad on Facebook and Instagram.

Khanna has made attacks on AIPAC, and criticism of Israel more generally, a significant part of his legislative message in recent months, at times associating with extreme anti-Israel and antisemitic figures.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, widely viewed as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential contender, plans to publish a memoir early next year. 

The book, called Where We Keep the Light, is being marketed by publisher HarperCollins as an important story from “a leading voice in the Democratic Party.” For politicians with national ambitions, writing a memoir is generally seen as a stepping stone toward greater name recognition and future campaigns. 

In the book, Shapiro will discuss his family and his faith, and remind “us of the faith that guides so many and that there is more that unites us as Americans than divides us.” He will write about his path toward public service and his rise through the ranks of Pennsylvania politics. 

A HarperCollins press release said the book goes into detail on the arson attack at the governor’s residence during Passover in April and the period in 2024 when Vice President Kamala Harris was considering naming him her running mate, a topic about which Shapiro has shared very little publicly. 

The book will be published on Jan. 27, 2026.

When Pete Buttigieg was asked a question about Israel and Gaza this week on “Pod Save America,” the former transportation secretary and possible 2028 presidential contender answered in a way that matched many Democrats’ stances on Israel: broadly supportive of the U.S.-Israel relationship while sharply critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his role in the humanitarian crisis. 

But after facing a barrage of attacks on social media from progressives and anti-Israel activists, Buttigieg did an about face and gave in to critics, telling Politico on Thursday that he would have supported recent Senate resolutions seeking to block certain arms sales to Israel and that he would recognize a Palestinian state as part of a two-state solution. 

Most surprisingly, he said the U.S. should not negotiate another 10-year memorandum of understanding with Israel laying out Washington’s military support for the Jewish state — a crucial component of America’s Middle East policy that was last negotiated in the Obama administration and runs through 2028. 

“Pete Buttigieg is a viable [contender for] president of the United States. He won the Iowa caucus. He was the transportation secretary. And his words really matter,” one former senior Biden administration official told Jewish Insider. “The fact that he so quickly got wobbly and said his comments about the 10-year MOU suggests that those who still believe in standing strong really need to stand up right now, because we’re seeing a trend that’s extremely disturbing.”

In 2016, the U.S. and Israel signed a 10-year deal that pledged $3.8 billion in military assistance to Israel each year, which President Barack Obama celebrated at the time: “Under President Obama’s leadership, the multifaceted cooperation between the United States and Israel has reached unprecedented levels,” the White House said nine years ago. Even as some progressive Democrats have sought to condition or limit military assistance to Israel, there has not yet been a concerted effort to cancel or significantly alter the MOU. 

A spokesperson for Buttigieg said the former South Bend, Ind. mayor stood by his comments and suggested he wants to see a major change in American military support for Israel. 

“He said we have to shift to a more case-by-case approach, instead of a blanket approach,” the Buttigieg spokesperson told JI on Thursday. “There is a difference between providing defensive equipment so that they can shoot down Iranian missiles raining down on them, versus contributing to the conduct of a war that now has civilians starving within a few miles of food that is intended for them.”

That Buttigieg so rapidly gave in to pressure from the progressive left is an indication of where the party’s center of gravity is moving when it comes to Israel and Gaza. When Buttigieg ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primary, he was viewed as more liberal than Joe Biden on Israel, but much more centrist than Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). 

Buttigieg has for years been seen a more moderate voice in the party who could speak to both progressives and conservatives — as indicated by his frequent appearances on Fox News last year during the 2024 campaign. His willingness to acquiesce to the left in just a matter of days suggests the influence of the left-wing base in Democratic politics is growing.

At a J Street conference in 2019, Buttigieg criticized some Israeli actions and said America should express that disagreement — as a friend. “What you do in that situation is you put your arm around your friends and you try to guide them to a better place,” Buttigieg said. He also said that year that he would not consider cutting aid to Israel. 

A year earlier, in 2018, he traveled to Israel with the American Jewish Committee, and said afterward that support for Israel “shouldn’t be” a “left vs. right issue.” 

In the original “Pod Save America” interview that aired earlier this week, Buttigieg hinted at frustration with Israel’s actions in Gaza while declining to answer questions about the Senate resolutions or Palestinian statehood. “I think we need to insist that if American taxpayer funding is going to weaponry that is going to Israel, that that is not going to things that shock the conscience,” he said. 

Buttigieg suggested, though, that his concerns about Israel’s actions in Gaza come from a position of caring about the country.

“We — I think especially including voices who care about Israel, who believe in Israel’s right to exist, who have stood with Israel in response to the unbelievable cruelty and terrorism of Oct. 7 — I think there’s a reason why so many of those voices are speaking up now too,” he said. “Because this is not just something that is on its face and in itself a moral catastrophe. It is also a catastrophe for Israel for the long run.”

His response was criticized by former Obama administration official Ben Rhodes and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), who has in recent weeks been leading the charge for the U.S. to recognize a Palestinian state.

Andrew Bates, who serves as a deputy press secretary in the Biden administration, told JI he viewed Buttigieg’s answer as pro-Israel and anti-Netanyahu.

“I took Buttigieg’s interview to mean he is strongly committed to America’s alliance with Israel and Israel’s right to self-defense, but that he does not support Netanyahu’s new offensive. I agree,” said Bates. But he declined to weigh in on Buttigieg’s about-face.

Some of the leading pro-Israel voices in the Democratic Party have tried to avoid the intra-party squabble about the Senate resolutions and whether to recognize a Palestinian state. Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Gov. Wes Moore of Maryland both declined to comment on the topic to Politico. 

Shapiro said recently the U.S. has a “moral responsibility” to get aid to Gaza, and he told JI last month that support for Israel should remain bipartisan.