FRACKING AROUND — As Vice President Kamala Harris prepares to accept the Democratic nomination for president and flesh out a policy agenda of her own, she’s already confronting political hot potatoes that could undermine her efforts to woo moderate voters. Her campaign’s weekend statement aimed at clarifying her views on fracking, a type of oil and gas drilling that’s brought a boom to battleground states like Pennsylvania, has done little so far to assuage broader concerns about her relationships with blue-collar industrial workers, even though she’d dropped her opposition to a fracking ban to align with President Joe Biden after becoming his running mate. Former President Donald Trump had pounced on Harris’ past fracking stance — she sued the Obama administration to block plans to drill off the California coast — and her broader climate agenda, casting her as “ultra liberal” at a recent rally. Down-ballot Republicans are also looking to exploit her energy record, as shown in a new ad from Dave McCormick, the GOP nominee for Senate in Pennsylvania. But even with fracking seemingly addressed, blue-collar workers in Pennsylvania’s industrial base still aren’t sold — and want to hear before giving Harris a shot at cobbling together the sort of coalition that helped Biden carry the nation’s No. 2 gas producing state after Trump’s 2016 victory there, Josh Siegel and your host report. “She really needs to have face-to-face conversations with union leaders in the areas most affected by this and go on the record of being a supporter and proponent of natural gas — not just someone who won’t ban fracking,” said Jeff Nobers, executive director of the Builders Guild of Western Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania’s popular Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, rumored to be in the race to become Harris’ running mate, might be able to help shore up Keystone State support for the vice president among moderate voters as she eases away from the view of her as one of the most progressive members of the U.S. Senate when she served there. Shapiro, who won the 2022 governor’s race by 15 points and boasts a 64 percent approval rating, has crafted an energy strategy that seeks to appeal to fossil fuel interests, organized labor and environmentalists. Many Pennsylvania Democrats are pitching him to be on the ticket with Harris, viewing him as the best answer to her potential political vulnerabilities. State Rep. Mike Schlossberg, a Democrat from the eastern part of the state who serves as majority caucus chair, said he “one thousand percent” wants Shapiro to be chosen as the vice presidential nominee. And he said “energy policy is one reason why” Shapiro, who has steered clear of supporting any sort of fracking ban and criticized Biden’s pause on exports from new liquefied natural gas projects, could boost Harris. “I just don’t see it sticking,” Schlossberg said of the Republicans’ fracking attacks.
| 
