As the number of Democratic elected officials calling for President Joe Biden to end his run for a second term continues to slowly grow, one key swing-state governor sometimes named as part of a potential replacement ticket – Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – stayed in the beleaguered incumbent’s corner Sunday.

Publicly, Shapiro has been solidly in Biden’s corner since the president’s fumbling June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump, arguing the Democratic party needs to stop worrying (about Biden) and start working with a successful Biden Administration story that should, in his estimation, be enough to defeat Trump.

Shapiro didn’t say anything to modulate his support for Biden Sunday after a semi-private chat with the president at Denim Coffee in Harrisburg at the close of a one-day Pennsylvania swing.

But he did acknowledge that Biden is in a real testing period with a larger Democratic Party now that wants nothing more than to defeat Trump.

(Late Sunday evening, U.S. Rep. Susan Wild, R-Allentown, became the first member of Pennsylvania’s Democratic Congressional delegation to express public concerns about Biden’s “electability at the top of the ticket.”)

“I’ll just say this,” Shapiro said. “The president has made clear that he is continuing in this race. The president has a responsibility to reassure the good people of Pennsylvania and the people of this country that he can defeat Donald Trump.”

Biden and his wife, Jill, had their members-only meeting with Shapiro as an addendum to his campaign stop in Harrisburg Sunday afternoon that every political junkie in America would have loved to have been in on.

Problem was, the travelling press was out of the building by then, and Shapiro – who spoke to PennLive later – knows when to be discreet.

Here’s what we can tell you.

The Bidens and the governor held their pre-arranged meet-up at the Denim shop on Walnut Street, across the street from the Capitol Complex after Biden’s mid-afternoon appearance at AFSCME Council 13 headquarters just outside the city.

The simple fact of the meeting is fascinating given Biden’s desperate efforts to try to stabilize his campaign amid questions raised by his June 27 debate, and the very public and seemingly unending discussion since about whether Biden should abort his quest for a second term.

It was all the more fascinating that it happened, and in public view, given Shapiro’s regular appearance in national lists of more, shall we say, mid-career Democrats that could take a spot on the national ticket if Biden does stand down.

The travelling press was ushered into Denim shortly before 5 p.m. as the Bidens engaged in small talk with the staff and placed their orders – the president bought a strawberry smoothie and placed a $20 bill in the tip jar – and according to pool reports they were ushered out at 4:59 p.m.

It was at that point, Denim co-owner Tony Diehl said, the Bidens sidled up to the window bar seats with Shapiro and the three had a mostly private chat lasting a little more than 10 minutes.

Shapiro batted down most questions about his talk with the president as he exited the Capitol building about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, other than to note that for him it was a nice mental break from an afternoon of budget conversations.

“I’m not going to get into my private conversations with the president and share them with you. I am grateful that he came to Pennsylvania and that he came specifically to Harrisburg to make his case. And it was good to see him,” Shapiro said.

Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral college votes, is often considered the biggest state that both parties believe they have a real chance to win.

Shapiro went on to call Trump an “existential threat to our democracy and our freedoms…. He was dangerous when the rule of law applied to him, and now it doesn’t any more after the Supreme Court decision last week. The stakes could not be higher.”

Shapiro’s reference there was to a Supreme Court decision in a pre-trial battle over presidential immunity in the federal election subversion case against Trump.

A court majority ruled on July 1 that presidents do have immunity for official actions, but sent the election case back to lower courts to parse out whether the actions at the heart of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s case are covered as official acts or not.

Shapiro did not directly respond Sunday to a question about whether he would consider serving as part of a replacement ticket if Biden did withdraw, stating only that “the president has stated very clearly that he’s running for re-election, and I’m going to everything in my political power to defeat Donald Trump.”

Diehl, the Denim co-owner, said he was contacted Saturday about whether he could host the private party at the Harrisburg shop after regular hours Sunday, and he was happy to oblige.

Others in attendance for the presidential coffee clatch were U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and his wife, Gisele and some support staff for the various officials, Diehl said.

They didn’t linger.

According to pool reports, the presidential motorcade barreled on to Harrisburg International Airport at 5:13 p.m.

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