Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is wildly popular with voters in his critical battleground state. But among some top Democrats there who know him personally, feelings are lukewarm — sometimes even resentful.

• Tim Alberta, a reporter for The Atlantic who recently profiled Shapiro, told us he "was really surprised by how unpopular he is with elected Democrats in Pennsylvania."
• "There are lots of people the governor counts as allies — people who raise money for him, support his reelection campaign, say all the right things publicly — who have serious beefs with him privately."

Why it matters: The behind-the-scenes ill will toward Shapiro, who just launched a multi-city book tour, could haunt the governor if he runs for president in 2028, as many expect.

😤 The intrigue: Many Democratic elected officials and party leaders in Pennsylvania privately have fumed about Shapiro to Axios through the years, even as they've supported him publicly.

• Several have claimed Shapiro has been willing to push aside allies to get ahead, which has created a slew of politicians quietly holding grudges.
• "He's always all about him," a Pennsylvania Democratic elected official told Axios in an interview. "When you first meet him, you have all these high hopes and see the aspiration and think you'll share it. But you kind of come away feeling either used or like a pawn."
• Another longtime Democratic lawmaker in Pennsylvania said: "Someone once said to me that everyone knows Josh would knife his own lifelong best friend in the back if it got him one extra polling point. That is a widely held view in political circles in Pennsylvania."

What they're saying: "This is an irresponsible non-story searching for anonymous sources to make news when there is none," countered Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder.

• Bonder disputed the idea that Shapiro isn't a team player, pointing to him "helping win and maintain the state House majority, to raising millions of dollars and campaigning to protect the [state] Supreme Court, to putting his neck on the line for Democratic candidates for local office, to rebuilding and investing millions in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, to leading the fight to win four U.S. House seats this November."

🔎 Zoom in: Despite their frustration, many Pennsylvania Democrats clamor to campaign alongside Shapiro — a nod to his 60% approval rating among voters. Even critics acknowledge his long coattails have helped down-ballot Democrats.

• Shapiro also has cultivated relationships with key national Democrats, including donors and people in former President Obama's orbit.

But the acrimony within his state party appeared to harm Shapiro's chances of becoming the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, as then-Vice President Harris' aides heard complaints about him.

• "That became a major concern for Harris' team as they had those conversations with Democrats around the state," Alberta told Axios.
• 🔈 One Democrat went public. Erin McClelland, the Democratic nominee for state treasurer in 2024, said on social media that Shapiro wasn't "secure enough to be second under a woman." (A Shapiro defender called the post offensive. Shapiro later declined to endorse McClelland, and she went on to lose the election for treasurer.)
• Shapiro has said he took himself out of consideration to be Harris' running mate.
• Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is another Democrat who's gone public about his frosty relationship with Shapiro, saying he and the governor no longer speak. Fetterman wrote in his book, "Unfettered," that he believes Shapiro is overly driven by "political ambition."

McClelland and Fetterman are exceptions. Few Pennsylvania Democrats have gone public with their complaints, partly because they're afraid of the political consequences of turning on the governor.

• Besides high approval ratings, Shapiro has a $30 million campaign war chest.
• And even some Pennsylvania Democrats who've criticized his style as too sharp-elbowed say they think he'd make a good president.

Read more.

— Holly Otterbein, Alex Thompson

🥊 Shapiro is facing a backlash from Democratic Party leaders over his recent claim that he faced additional scrutiny to become Harris' vice-presidential nominee because he's Jewish.

Why it matters: Shapiro's account in his new book has exposed some of the tension over antisemitism within the party that's likely to play out in the 2028 presidential primary — which could include at least three Jewish candidates.

• It's also put Shapiro at odds with some senior Democratic leaders from the Obama and Biden administrations who believe he's cynically using antisemitism to score political points.

📖 Shapiro's version of events appears in "Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service," due out Tuesday.

• He wrote that when Harris was vetting him, longtime Democratic lawyer Dana Remus asked: "Have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government?"
• "Was she kidding? I told her how offensive the question was," Shapiro recounted.
• In an interview on CBS' Sunday Morning, he added: "I love this country, and for someone to question that, for someone to question my loyalty ... was offensive to me."

Shapiro briefly worked for the Israeli embassy's public affairs division decades ago, and some Democrats agreed with his assessment.

• "These questions were classic antisemitism," Deborah E. Lipstadt, the Biden administration's special envoy to fight antisemitism, posted on X.

😡 But Shapiro's account infuriated many top Democrats who thought it was a cheap shot at Remus, who was White House counsel to President Biden and a top lawyer for President Obama.

• "Asking a high-level appointee if they have ever been a foreign agent is a standard vetting question," Ron Klain, Biden's former chief of staff, told Axios. He cited Standard Form 86, which national security officials fill out for vetting. It includes questions about foreign government interactions.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker — a potential 2028 rival who's also Jewish and was vetted for Harris' VP slot — said this week he didn't think the questions he was asked during the vetting were inappropriate.

Bonder, Shapiro's spokesperson, told Axios: "The 2024 election is one small part of his much broader story — and the governor looks forward to sharing much more about this book and the stories within it very soon."

Read more.

— Alex Thompson, Holly Otterbein

⚡️ Longtime Democratic strategist David Axelrod, who guided Obama's presidential campaigns, has some sharp critiques of Gavin Newsom as the California governor prepares for a potential White House run.

• "Haven't we seen enough self-puffery in our leaders?" Axelrod posted on X this week as Newsom boasted in Davos about standing up to President Trump. "This, 'Why can't people just be as courageous as ME?' routine is tedious."

Why it matters: Axelrod has a reputation for saying out loud what many Democrats are saying privately.

🫵 Driving the news: It's not the first time he's poked a jab at Newsom, a frontrunner in early polls of possible 2028 Democratic contenders.

• When Newsom — who has long been at the vanguard of advocating for LGBTQ people — said last year that allowing transgender women in women's sports presented "an issue of fairness" to other athletes, Axelrod told CNN: "If I were giving the governor advice, I'd say, 'You know, don't be so overt that people can see the wheels turning.' "
• "The obvious question would be: 'Well, you've been governor of California for six years, you were lieutenant governor for many years before that, when did you have this epiphany?' And the answer is, when he found that the Republicans could weaponize the issue," Axelrod said then.

Axelrod told Axios: "Newsom is enormously talented. He did a gutsy thing in responding to Trump's redistricting ploy," referring to the successful ballot measure in California that could add up to five Democratic seats in Congress.

• But "authenticity is an essential quality in any presidential candidate," Axelrod added. "And after Trump, I believe humility will be, too."
• A spokesperson for Newsom declined to comment.

Read more.

— Alex Thompson

A look at what potential 2028 Democratic presidential contenders are up to:

• Pritzker said in an X post on Saturday that "it's time abolish Trump's ICE" after a Customs and Border Patrol officer fatally shot a man in Minneapolis who was recording video of CBP officers and had been legally carrying a firearm.
• Newsom took his feud with President Trump to Davos, where he accused the White House of helping kill his planned event there and hit Europe over its "complicity" toward the administration. He also posed for a photo with Alex Soros, son of billionaire George Soros.
• Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear made the trek to Davos, too, wielding the talking point that America "has been the leader of the free world and now we're acting like the bully."
• Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer weighed in on a controversial debate roiling the Democratic Party: Is the country ready for a woman president? "I love Michelle Obama, so the last thing I want to do is disagree with her," Whitmer told NPR's Steve Inskeep. "But no, I think America is ready for a woman president." Whitmer also went to Davos, but didn't seek to be a Trump foil.
• New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested that the next Democratic president should embrace some of Trump's expanded powers: "In order for us to correct the abuses that are happening now, we have to act the same in similar capacities that Trump has given himself," she said.
• Former Vice President Harris said she's "outraged" over recent ICE actions.
• Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly acknowledged to CNN that his recent trips to South Carolina weren't just for show: He's thinking about running for president.
• Shapiro trolled PETA over the animal rights group wanting to use a holographic groundhog for the Punxsutawney Phil Groundhog Day tradition.
• California Rep. Ro Khanna escalated his brawl with Newsom, accusing him of being beholden to "AIPAC donors." A spokesperson for Newsom shot back that the governor "has taken $0 from AIPAC."
• Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was tapped by Harvard's Institute of Politics to be a visiting fellow this spring.
• Maryland Gov. Wes Moore met with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries in Washington and promoted his efforts to redraw the congressional maps in Maryland in response to Trump's mid-decade redistricting push. There's still time for state lawmakers to approve a new plan before the November midterms, Moore's office said.