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Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks at an election night watch party in Warminster, Pa., on May 19. Associated Press<\/p>\n
Just a day after the primary election last week, with the field of candidates finally set for November, Gov. Josh Shapiro hit the campaign trail with a message about fighting \u201cthe chaos, the cruelty and the corruption coming out of Washington, D.C.\u201d<\/p>\n
For years, Shapiro has repeated the argument to voters that he serves as a bulwark protecting the state he leads from unpopular Republican policies in Washington.<\/p>\n
But when he said the line again in Luzerne County on Wednesday, Shapiro wasn\u2019t referring to himself; he was stumping for Paige Cognetti, the Scranton mayor running to unseat U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of four GOP-held congressional seats in the state that Democrats are targeting \u2014 and one of a handful of contests this year that will test as never before Shapiro\u2019s standing as a national leader of his party.<\/p>\n
A reelection victory in November \u2014 even a landslide \u2014 might not be enough to vault Shapiro to the front of the pack of potential 2028 contenders for the White House.<\/p>\n
For that, experts say, he\u2019ll need to bring others along with him.<\/p>\n
Democrats nationwide will be watching to see whether Shapiro can carry his party to power in the largest swing state by campaigning for nominees trying to flip the Republican-held seats that will determine who controls the General Assembly \u2014 and possibly even the U.S. House.<\/p>\n
For Pennsylvania Democrats, it\u2019s a historic opportunity.<\/p>\n
The party controls the state House by a single vote. In the Senate, Democrats need to gain just three seats to take control of the chamber for the first time in more than 30 years.<\/p>\n
And across the country \u2014 after an unprecedented wave of gerrymandering slashed the number of competitive U.S. House seats \u2014 the four closely divided districts in Pennsylvania could decide whether Democrats claw back power in Washington in November.<\/p>\n
At the same time, President Donald Trump\u2019s plummeting popularity \u2014 just over a third of Americans approve of his performance in office, according to recent surveys \u2014 has created a political environment ripe for sweeping Democratic gains.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we\u2019re going to do it, this is the year,\u201d said Eileen Hartnett Abillar, the Democrat running to unseat Republican state Sen. Frank Farry in Bucks County.<\/p>\n
For Shapiro, the favorable environment for Democrats and his role as the highest elected official in one of the most important battleground states will only heighten the scrutiny as the midterm campaigns play out, experts said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he\u2019s not able to deliver, he certainly will look weaker as a candidate for national office,\u201d said Vince Galko, a GOP strategist based in northeastern Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
The high-stakes midterm races in Pennsylvania come at a pivotal moment for Shapiro\u2019s party.<\/p>\n
Just 18 months after Democrats suffered crushing losses in the 2024 presidential election \u2014 in part because the party lost support among both white working-class voters and among Black and Latino voters who have long made up a crucial part of its base \u2014 polls show a deep and lingering distrust in the Democratic establishment.<\/p>\n
An internal report released last week by the Democratic National Committee said the party had lost touch with vast swaths of the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cMillions of Americans are suffering from poor access to healthcare, manufacturing and job losses, and a failing infrastructure, yet continue to be persuaded to vote against their best interests because they do not see themselves reflected in the America of the Democratic Party,\u201d according to the report, which had been commissioned as an autopsy of the 2024 race.<\/p>\n
As Democrats have struggled to win over those voters, and growing parts of the party\u2019s base have demanded that elected leaders fight harder against the Trump administration, Shapiro has pitched himself more as a pragmatist than as an ideologue, analysts say.<\/p>\n
During his three statewide campaigns \u2014 two for attorney general and one for governor \u2014 Shapiro has outperformed the Democratic presidential candidate in crucial areas of the state.<\/p>\n
In his 2022 campaign, Shapiro won four counties that Trump had carried two years earlier, and eight counties that Trump won in 2024.<\/p>\n
And in some of the most conservative areas of the state, including the deep-red counties in the southwestern corner, Shapiro has won thousands more votes than his party\u2019s presidential contenders.<\/p>\n
Messenger for a damaged brand<\/p>\n
For a party that many see as out of touch with middle- and working-class Americans, \u201cHe helps redefine the brand in a way that is acceptable to a majority in Pennsylvania,\u201d said J.J. Balaban, a Democratic strategist and ad maker based in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Balaban pointed to the 10th Congressional District, a conservative-leaning area that surrounds Harrisburg and is represented by Scott Perry, a close Trump ally.<\/p>\n
Trump carried the district in all three of his presidential campaigns. But in 2022, Shapiro won 55% of the vote there and beat the Republican nominee for governor, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, by more than 37,000 votes.<\/p>\n
Beginning last summer, Shapiro began pushing the candidacy of Janelle Stelson, a former news anchor who lost to Perry in 2024 by 5,000 votes \u2014 a margin of less than 1.3%.<\/p>\n
This year, Stelson faced Dauphin County Commissioner Justin Douglas for the Democratic nomination, and she got an early boost from Shapiro, whose endorsement came last summer.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Stelson easily won the Democratic primary with about two-thirds of the vote.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s one of three Republican-held districts where Shapiro pushed for his preferred candidates in contested primaries \u2014 including in the 7th District, where he and Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., helped Bob Brooks win a four-way race with 41% of the vote.<\/p>\n
Brooks will face freshman U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in November and attempt to recapture a seat that Democrats lost two years ago by a single percentage point. The district covers all of Lehigh, Northampton, and Carbon counties and part of Monroe County.<\/p>\n
In the 1st District, just outside of Philadelphia, Shapiro backed Bucks County Commissioner Bob Harvie, who went on to win 65% of the vote in the primary.<\/p>\n
The incumbent he\u2019s trying to unseat, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, is the only Republican congressman in Pennsylvania who represents a district that Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024.<\/p>\n
For the fourth seat that Democrats are targeting \u2014 U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan in the 8th district, covering the northeast corner of the state \u2014 Cognetti ran unopposed in the primary.<\/p>\n
When Shapiro ran for his first term as governor, he carried all three districts with at least 54% of the vote.<\/p>\n
Shapiro\u2019s backing in those races is \u201cno guarantee of victory\u201d in November, but it could sway moderate voters otherwise skeptical of the Democratic Party, Balaban said.<\/p>\n
As party activists across the country battle over whether the party should focus on the priorities of its progressive base or try to expand its appeal to voters who\u2019ve turned to the GOP in recent elections, party leaders in Pennsylvania see Shapiro\u2019s involvement in these races as a test case.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh Shapiro\u2019s brand, our Pennsylvania brand \u2014 that’s how we’re going to take back the U.S. House,\u201d state House majority leader Matt Bradford, D-70th, said at a rally on election night.<\/p>\n
Trying for the trifecta<\/p>\n
Farther down the ballot, Democratic victories could be even more consequential for Shapiro.<\/p>\n
Efforts to expand the party\u2019s one-vote margin in the House would give Shapiro and Democratic leaders more leeway to push their priorities through the chamber, but the real prize is on the other side of the Capitol rotunda: the GOP-controlled Senate.<\/p>\n
For decades, the state Senate has been a bastion of Republican power. Democrats haven\u2019t had the majority since 1993, the year Bill Clinton was sworn in as president.<\/p>\n
During Shapiro\u2019s first three years in office, Republicans have used their power over the chamber to block major Democratic proposals including raising the minimum wage and legalizing marijuana, and have forced Democrats into painful negotiations over spending.<\/p>\n
Just last year, Shapiro and House leaders deadlocked with Senate Republicans over the budget in an impasse that lasted 135 days.<\/p>\n
But the GOP\u2019s margin has been whittled down over the last few election cycles, and the party\u2019s once-insurmountable majority is down to just two seats.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must grow the Democratic majority in the House of Representatives. Then we\u2019ve got to do what we\u2019ve been trying to get done for far too long: We must flip the Senate,\u201d said state Sen. Vincent Hughes, D-7th.<\/p>\n
Of the 25 Senate seats on the ballot this year, Shapiro carried 16 of them in the last governor\u2019s race \u2014 including four districts currently represented by Republicans.<\/p>\n
Democratic control of the House, Senate and governor\u2019s office would allow Shapiro to push through legislation that could burnish his image with voters outside Pennsylvania and spare him from more embarrassing budget standoffs that could undercut his \u201cget stuff done\u201d message.<\/p>\n
At the election night rally, Shapiro ticked off a list of legislation that Democrats have sought for years \u2014 including raising the state\u2019s minimum wage to $15 from the current $7.25 an hour.<\/p>\n
\u201cGive me a Democratic majority in the Senate and we will fully fund mass transit, we will build more housing and we will codify abortion rights right here in Pennsylvania,\u201d Shapiro said.<\/p>\n
For Republicans, maintaining control of the Senate would not only allow them to continue to have a say in governing the state, but would also tarnish a rising Democratic star, Galko said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf he’s out there campaigning and spending money but doesn\u2019t get the results, it\u2019s going to certainly damage his brand,\u201d Galko said.<\/p>\n
Perhaps more than at any time in his career, Shapiro\u2019s political fate is tied to the politicians he\u2019s supporting, analysts said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat Shapiro \u2026 really needs in this race is to improve the strength of the party organization statewide,\u201d said Robin Kolodny, a political-science professor at Temple University. \u201cAnd you don’t do that by just taking care of yourself.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Gov. Josh Shapiro arrives to speak at an election night watch party in Warminster, Pa., on May 19. Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks at an election night watch party in Warminster, Pa., on May 19. Associated Press…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":202332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3035,3027,3022,3042,3048,3051,1610,3030,3028,31,3029,3034,3025,3047,3041,3024,3045,3033,3023,3036,182,3049,3039,139,3026,28,30,29,3040,39,3031,3044,3043,3032,3050,3038,3037,3046],"class_list":["post-202331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-bruin","tag-butler","tag-butler-eagle","tag-cabot","tag-callery","tag-cherry-valley","tag-community-news","tag-connoquenessing","tag-cranberry","tag-crime","tag-east-butler","tag-eau-claire","tag-education-news","tag-evans-city","tag-fairview","tag-government-news","tag-harmony","tag-harrisville","tag-high-school-sports-news","tag-karns-city","tag-local-news","tag-mars","tag-mount-chesnut","tag-news","tag-obituaries","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-petrolia","tag-political-news","tag-portersville","tag-sarver","tag-saxonburg","tag-slippery-rock","tag-valencia","tag-west-liberty","tag-west-sunbury","tag-zelienople"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=202331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/202331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/202332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=202331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=202331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=202331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}