Clearest signal yet that Democrat candidate is set to run in 2028

In a forthcoming memoir, a likely 2028 Democratic candidate reveals advice he received from President Donald Trump following a personal tragedy last year. In ‘Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service,’ Pennsylvania’s Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro disclosed that the president called him after an arson attack at his home, leaving a voicemail with his personal cell phone number and telling him to call anytime. Trump himself narrowly escaped death in Pennsylvania at his Butler rally hours before the 2024 Republican National Convention when gunman Thomas Crooks shot him, grazing his ear. Trump is not a feature of the governor’s upcoming work; but a key moment between the two is brought up.

According to multiple reports, Shapiro writes that Trump answered when he called back, then launched into self-praise over the economy and gas prices. The conversation turned to politics, with Trump running through potential Democratic presidential contenders for 2028, though Shapiro doesn’t say who Trump named, according to the Washington Post. The Post reports Trump complimented Shapiro on how ‘he talked to people and approached problems’ while warning him that he ‘shouldn’t want to be president given how dangerous it had become to hold the office.’

Trump has survived two assassination attempts in 2024 – one in Butler and another at his Florida golf course. Ryan Wesley Routh was convicted in 2025 of attempting to assassinate Trump ‘in a planned sniper attack at Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida,’ according to the Department of Justice. Crooks was killed by law enforcement after trying to assassinate the then-candidate. Shapiro, meanwhile, is in an extra vulnerable position due to his Jewish faith, something that has been made an issue by both his friends and his foes.

In the forthcoming book, Shapiro also writes that former Vice President Harris’s team asked him if he had ever ‘been a double agent for Israel.’ The timing of the question may have even been more offensive than the premise. Many leftists had been worried that Shapiro was too pro-Israel and Democrats were concerned his nomination would re-spark controversial conversations about Gaza and would ultimately hurt Harris’ campaign. The former vice president addressed some of these concerns in her own memoir, 107 Days, which was released last year. She alluded to ‘the attacks [Shapiro had] confronted on Gaza and what effect it might have on the enthusiasm we were trying to build.’

Yet she also noted that Shapiro had been critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. CNN reported later Monday that the Harris campaign had also probed Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’ ties to China, indicating that her team’s questions about foreign ties weren’t focused solely on Shapiro. Harris ultimately chose Walz over Shapiro, even as Shapiro was considered to be the favorite to become Harris’ No. 2. What really seemed to motivate Harris to pick Walz over Shapiro was ‘a nagging concern that [Shapiro] would be unable to settle for a role as number two and that it would wear on our partnership,’ according to her memoir.

In her memoir she described the Pennsylvania governor as someone who was ‘peppering’ her and her staff with questions about the details of the jobs, including details on the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory. In his book Shapiro also shared that his own family did not want him to run nationwide at the time, and that his son said he didn’t seem to want to do it. But Shapiro’s book is now seen as the first step toward his own campaign in 2028, assuming that he’s re-elected to a second term in Pennsylvania in 2026.