Josh Shapiro accuses JD Vance of offering ‘comfort’ to far-right antisemitism

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) did not hold back against Vice President JD Vance over antisemitism.

In a new interview with NBC News, Shapiro accused Vance of offering “comfort” to people on the right who promote anti-Jewish views, as the vice president has faced increased scrutiny for a post on X earlier this week in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day.

“Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality,” Vance wrote on Wednesday. “And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.”

The post featured photos of Vance’s visit to the Dachau concentration camp memorial site in Germany last February, where he and his wife, Usha, met with a Holocaust survivor.

While Vance received backlash from critics on the left, some conservatives also weighed in, including far-right activist Laura Loomer, an ally of President Donald Trump, who bluntly added, “6 million Jewish lives.”

Shapiro, who is Jewish, acknowledged in comments released late Wednesday that he did not see the post. The governor did, however, say that he did not believe it was out of character for Vance to not explicitly mention the Jewish people.

“Remember that the reason why we memorialize the Holocaust on this day, really, essentially, is to never forget,” Shapiro told NBC News. “And the reason you want to never forget is so that we never live through that atrocity again. Part of never forgetting is making sure that the facts of what happened are recited, are remembered.”

“The fact that JD Vance couldn’t bring himself to acknowledging that 6 million Jews were killed by Hitler and by the Nazis speaks volumes,” he continued.

Shapiro also accused Vance of embracing “neo-Nazis and neo-Nazi political parties,” while claiming that he has “offered comfort, really, to the antisemites on the right who are infecting the Republican Party.”

“It’s not a shock to me that he would omit that, but it’s a sad day that the vice president of the United States on Holocaust Awareness Day couldn’t address that,” Shapiro said.

According to NBC News, a Vance spokesperson called Shapiro’s remarks a “hypocritical deflection” from a “political lightweight.” They pointed to how Shapiro’s own post did not directly include the Jewish people — though it did reference antisemitism.

“This Holocaust Remembrance Day, we pause to reflect on a horrific chapter in human history — a period of incredible darkness for our world, consumed by hate and violence against millions of people on the basis of their faith, their background, and their beliefs,” Shapiro wrote in a post on X on Wednesday.

Shapiro added: “Today, perhaps more than ever before, we know how much work is still left to do. Amidst the rising antisemitism we’re seeing across this country, it’s on us to rededicate ourselves to combatting hate and violence wherever we see it — and to speak with moral clarity in its face.”

The latest jab at Vance comes as a number of other potential 2028 Democratic hopefuls have intensified their attacks against the vice president, who has floated a future run for president himself. Vance has emerged as a clear frontrunner among Republican contenders in early polls, and has already received an endorsement from Erika Kirk, the widow of late conservative activist Charlie Kirk who runs Turning Point USA.

Shapiro’s sharp comments also follow the release of his new memoir, “Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service,” which is out this week.

In the book, Shapiro — who was passed over as a running mate to former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 — revealed that Trump had told him that he “shouldn’t want to be president given how dangerous it had become to hold the office now” following an arson attack on the governor’s residence last year.

Other sections of the book have also made headlines, including how the governor said he found a question offensive during the vetting process of becoming a vice president for Harris. Shapiro said that her team had asked whether he has been an agent of the Israeli government.