Shapiro tells Erie County Democratic Party at spring dinner: ‘This is our moment.’
Governor Josh Shapiro was the keynote speaker at the Erie County Democratic Party Spring Dinner on May 6th at the Sheraton Bayfront Hotel.
During a recent campaign stop in Erie County, Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro was quick to list off his accomplishments from his first term.
He has cut taxes seven times and created the Working Pennsylvanian Tax Credit, which gives 940,000 Pennsylvanians up to $800 each.
He has overseen the largest growth in the state’s economy in decades. Growth in his first term was greater than in the previous 15 years combined, he said, and Moody’s determined that Pennsylvania is the only state in the northeastern United States whose economy is growing with $40 billion in private investment.
He also touted record investments in public education, including $300 million for districts to hire counselors to deal with the mental health crisis, and work with both parties to ensure universal free breakfast for children. Under the Shapiro administration, the state also introduced student teacher scholarships to address the state and national teacher shortage.
And under his watch, he touts the work he has done to reduce crime rates, including violent crimes, and expand the Pennsylvania State Police force.
“I fundamentally believe that if you can give your kids good schools and safe communities and get them the jobs they want in communities that respect them for who they are, that’s the recipe for success, and that’s what we do every day,” Shapiro said May 6 while speaking at the Erie County Democratic Party’s Spring Dinner. “I am proud of the oversight and historic investments we have made in public education.”
Shapiro does not vote in Democratic primary
Mr. Shapiro, who is considered a 2028 presidential candidate, is unopposed in the May 19 Democratic primary for governor, as is his opponent in the Republican primary, state Treasurer Stacey Garrity.
In his first run for governor in 2022, Shapiro easily defeated state Sen. Doug Mastriano by a 15 percentage point margin. An average of polls conducted in February and March shows Mr. Shapiro leading Mr. Garrity by 20 points.
Mr. Garrity appears to be trying to turn this campaign into a referendum on Mr. Shapiro’s first term in office, and Mr. Shapiro seems open to that approach. He has emphasized every accomplishment under his political credo of “getting things done.”
Shapiro, 52, was elected governor after serving two terms as state attorney general. In that role, he led a two-year grand jury investigation into hundreds of sexual abuse allegations within the Catholic Church that gained national attention and led to a 2018 report into decades of sexual abuse allegations and their cover-up.
Prior to winning the state Senate seat, Mr. Shapiro served on the Montgomery County Commission from 2012 to 2017. He was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2004 and served three and a half terms from 2005 to early 2012.
His first term as governor was not without crisis and controversy.
Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first term challenges
In 2023, Mr. Shapiro’s office was accused of trying to cover up allegations of sexual harassment and retaliation by subordinates against then-government affairs director Mike Bereb. The administration settled claims against Beleb, a Shapiro ally, for $295,000 in October, a month after Beleb was forced to resign. Questions remain about when Mr. Shapiro learned of the harassment allegations and whether he could have acted sooner to remove Mr. Bereb.
Questions about the incident resurfaced in 2024 when presidential candidate and then-Vice President Kamala Harris considered choosing Shapiro as her running mate. Shapiro said she withdrew her name from consideration days before Harris nominated Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz for the job. After her defeat, Ms. Harris wrote in her memoir, “107 Days,” that Mr. Shapiro was ambitious, obsessed with the vice presidency and seeking more power than was customary for vice presidents. Mr. Shapiro called Ms. Harris’s account of herself a “blatant lie.”
Mr. Garrity accused Mr. Shapiro of both his ambitions for higher office and his handling of the sexual harassment scandal.
She also criticized Mr. Shapiro’s use of $1 million in taxpayer funds to improve security at his private residence in Montgomery County. She announced in April that as state treasurer she does not have the legal authority to pay for improvements to private property.
The renovations were made in response to the April 13, 2025, arson attack on the Governor’s Mansion (Governor’s Mansion) in Harrisburg.
Cody Ballmer, 38, later pleaded guilty to attempted murder, terrorism and more than 20 counts of arson in the arson attack, which occurred just after Shapiro and his Jewish family celebrated the first night of Passover. Ballmer later said he planned to hit Shapiro with a hammer if he encountered him. Those injured in the arson fire did not include the children who were inside the house at the time.
But it not only exposed some security lapses at the governor’s mansion, but also highlighted how political violence is worsening across the United States.
Shapiro has spoken out about the emotional toll the attack took on him and his family. He has spoken about that experience several times, including in December at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., to advocate for political civility with Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican.
But Republicans are critical of the slow release of records related to security improvements, as well as the renovations to Mr. Shapiro’s private residence itself.
fight against trump
Shapiro gained acclaim in June 2023 when a bridge collapsed on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. Working with PennDOT Secretary Mike Carroll, officials at the local, state and federal levels, unions and private contractors, the bridge was replaced in just 12 days, rather than the months some had predicted.
The quick reopening of major transportation arteries, as opposed to a lengthy bureaucratic process, elevated Mr. Shapiro’s stature and ultimately led to him being considered for vice president a year later.
For nearly 18 months since President Trump took office for his second non-consecutive four-year term, Mr. Shapiro has been on the front lines of legal battles with the administration. Shapiro, like other states, has sued President Trump’s White House multiple times over issues such as executive orders, freezing federal funds and election issues such as mail-in voting.
In a recent speech in Erie, Shapiro spent most of his time attacking Trump and his policies, but he never mentioned Garrity by name and only once called her “my opponent.”
Since Garrity is a staunch Trump supporter, and she has hosted a fundraiser at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort and has Garrity’s support, Shapiro will likely spend the rest of the campaign talking about Garrity as much as she does, especially given the incumbent president’s party’s historic underperformance in the midterm elections and President Trump’s underground poll numbers over rising gas prices and an unpopular war with Iran.
It’s an approach that likely serves the dual purpose of winning Pennsylvanians a second term and energizing them to run for president. That’s why events in Pennsylvania in November could foreshadow Shapiro’s actions two years from now.
Indeed, Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-1st District), a vulnerable Republican, recently attempted to capitalize on Shapiro’s popularity.
Fitzpatrick said in an interview with Punchbowl News that he thinks Shapiro will be re-elected because he has “done a really good job for Pennsylvania.”
Despite Shapiro’s endorsement of the Democratic challenger, Fitzpatrick said, “Josh is a good person and a friend.” “I think he should run for president. Josh is a very smart guy and I have a great relationship with him. I invited him to my wedding and I hope he comes.”
Matthew Link is a Pennsylvania investigative journalist for the USA TODAY Network.
