PA Governor Josh Shapiro Personally Pitched LeBron James on Joining Philadelphia 76ers | TMZ DC

What credit do you give yourself for having LeBron come to the Sixers? I'm going with zero, man. I did make my pitch. I shot my shot when I had the opportunity. I couldn't be more thrilled he's here. He's amazing. Yeah, no, I, I, well, I... The way I was kind of thinking about it is like approaching the king, it's more intimidating than like maybe approaching a girl out of your league. Let me just tell you something. When I saw him at that dinner and I'm like, I'm going to go talk to him. I'm going to make my pitch for Philly. Not just the team, but the city that I knew would fall in love with him, a place where he could do his philanthropy. I was just blown away when he said, thanks, Gov, I appreciate your work. Really? LeBron knows who I am. No way. It was pretty cool. Pretty cool. But I am sure this was all about Tyrese Maxey and JB and all the other guys. That's the reason why he chose Philly. Were you like nervous going up to him? I would be kind of peeing my pants. Like if I saw LeBron at a restaurant and I was like, I gotta go make him a pitch right now. You talked to a lot of important people. I mean, did you feel a no? No, I just figured I had my shot. I had to do it for the city. Okay, well, I mean, it sounds like you landed a big fish. Not sounds like, I mean, you kind of did. I think the Sixers landed a big fish. The Sixers, all right, all right. We're not going to give you too much credit. All right. Listen, I got to talk to you about the news of the day. Sure. Haley Stevens is what everyone's talking about. A lot of people feel like she betrayed her party. Do you? Well, I'll tell you, I've been on this bus traveling all across Pennsylvania, and I'm focused on creating a check on Donald Trump's chaos, cruelty, and corruption. That's why I'm working so hard to elect all these Democratic members of Congress here, and, you know, I think we're real close. I'm for all of the Democrats running for the U.S. Senate across the country, and I think what we don't need right now is a rubber stamp. of Mike Rogers enabling Donald Trump. Trump's made prices go up. He's got us into a war after he told us he'd try and get us out of wars. He's making things more complicated, more chaotic, taking away people's health care in this country. Last thing we need is a rubber stamp for him, and so I'm supporting the Democrats. So, okay, so in other words, Sounds like a little bit of a... It sounds like you're not on board with what she did. It sounds like what I just said. Okay, well, the thing is, what I think is interesting about Haley is she decided to support Mike Rogers kind of in the name of fighting anti-Semitism. You're someone who has firsthand experienced anti-Semitism. So is she fighting it the right way? Well, look, let me say again, I'm focused on Pennsylvania, but here's what I will say. There is no place in our politics for anti-Semitism. Or for Islamophobia or hatred or bigotry in any form. It's disgusting. And unfortunately, Donald Trump and his enablers have continued to push that. I've been a victim of that. My family's been a victim of that. We need to disagree about ideas, but what we can't do is sling insults. What we can't do is engage in antisemitism. There should be no place for that in our society. Haley Stevens aside, can you be a Democrat but support a Trump Republican? Can you, can you be a Democrat, but support a Trump Republican? Like she's voting for Mike Rogers, but then she says the rest of her ballot's all Democrat. I mean, I would flip it. I would just say my experience here in Pennsylvania is I got a whole bunch of Republicans who voted for Donald Trump, who are now supporting me. I'm grateful for that. And you know why? Because even though they voted for Trump, made a different choice than I did in the last election, probably the last three elections. These are farmers dealing with higher prices for their fertilizer. These are people, truckers, dealing with higher prices for their diesel. This is just folks who live around here in Norristown who are paying more for ground beef, 48% more, because of Donald Trump. And so I would just say I'm grateful for the Republicans who are joining my campaign, who are signing my bus, who are supporting this work. And so what I'm trying to do here in Pennsylvania is build a big, broad coalition of Democrats, Republicans, and independents. Okay. Do you think America is ready for a Jewish president? Look, I'll just tell you what, America wants to hire someone who's going to get the job done for them, who's going to get stuff done for them, regardless of how they worship, regardless of what they look like or who they love or where they came from. I really think what people want is someone who's going to go work their butts off for them every single day. I can tell you my experience here in Pennsylvania, I'm very open about my faith. I'm proud of my faith. I was in church in Philly yesterday talking openly about my faith. I think that even though people have different religions, it's been my experience here in the toughest swing state in the country. Different religions, but there is a through line of faith that connects us all. There are some universal things, like loving thy neighbor. Part of loving thy neighbor is not yanking their health care, their food assistance away from them. Treating people with dignity and respect, that's the way I try and lead here. That's what the good people of Pennsylvania, I think, you know, tell me every day they appreciate about me, and that's what I appreciate about them. But identity, I think a lot of people would say. It has a good role in it. I think what people want is lower prices and end of the war. It doesn't matter if you're in what religion, what gender. They want it. Pardon me. I didn't mean to speak over you. I'm just saying it doesn't matter. You think if someone is a woman or Jewish or Muslim, it just matters about the bottom line. I think whether you're running for governor, mayor, president, anything, they want to hire the person who's going to do the job best for them and who's going to fight to make a difference in their lives. Bring down prices and the wars and the chaos. Okay. Last thing I'll say. Sure. You're doing pretty well in pulls right now. Do you think it's just like, well, I'm curious, is it ready to just start the music now, the celebration music, or what's kind of your mindset going into the day before election? If I had the attitude that you just expressed in that question, I wouldn't be on a bus going through 40 counties over these 10 days. I'd have mailed it in. I don't mail it in. I compete for every vote. I go to every community. We were just, I think, yesterday, the day before, in a community that I think Kamala Harris may have just gotten about 20% of the vote in. We still showed up because I'm going to treat everyone with respect, look them in the eye, ask them for their vote, and make sure they know I'm going to be a governor for all Pennsylvania. Okay, job not finished. Great to be here. All right. Sounds good. Thanks, man.