{"id":246898,"date":"2026-07-18T23:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246898\/"},"modified":"2026-07-18T23:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-18T23:07:11","slug":"gov-shapiro-pa-democrats-launch-rise-up-pa-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246898\/","title":{"rendered":"Gov. Shapiro, Pa. Democrats launch \u2018Rise Up Pa.\u2019 campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJuly 18, 2026 | 6:46 PM \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe campaign initiative aims to elect Democrats in competitive districts <\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHaley O’Brien\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Haley<\/a><\/p>\n


\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHaley O’Brien is WITF’s Community Impact Reporter. She enjoys exploring Pennsylvania’s diverse communities and inspiring audiences through multimedia storytelling. Haley grew up in Scranton and worked in public media in Northeast Pa. and the Lehigh Valley before moving to the state capitol.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gov.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Haley O’Brien \/ WITF<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro launched the Rise Up Pennsylvania initiative in front of supporters Saturday.<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania Democrats gathered in Dauphin County on Saturday to launch an aggressive statewide organizing effort that party leaders say will be critical to November\u2019s midterm elections. \u00a0<\/p>\n

The \u201cRise Up Pennsylvania\u201d initiative intends to help Democrats get elected in competitive districts through early organizing, broad voter reach and close coordination with campaigns and legislative committees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Gov. Josh Shapiro and Democratic Party\u00a0Chairman\u00a0Eugene DePasquale\u00a0detailed the new effort\u00a0to supporters\u00a0at the Local 520 Plumbers and\u00a0Pipefitters Union.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were joined by\u00a0state\u00a0Sens.\u00a0\u00a0Patty Kim\u00a0(D-15)\u00a0and James Malone (D-36), and U. S. House Candidates\u00a0Sara Agerton and Janelle Stelson,\u00a0a former TV news anchor is running against U.S. Rep. Scott Perry.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIn November, we\u2019re going to have a moment in Pennsylvania,\u201d said Agerton, who is running to\u00a0flip\u00a0the\u00a088th\u00a0District\u00a0in the Pennsylvania House. \u201cAnd this moment is so needed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapiro contributed more than $3 million to the Democratic Party and the Rise Up Pennsylvania\u00a0Initiative\u00a0to create the largest coordinated effort in Pennsylvania\u2019s history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Democratic Party has set up 27 offices\u00a0and employed almost 100 people\u00a0dedicated to\u00a0\u201cRise Up Pennsylvania.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already knocked over 63,000 doors,\u201d DePasquale said. \u201cAnd we are just getting started.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The speakers encouraged\u00a0supporters\u00a0to get involved while explaining their concerns for\u00a0a\u00a0bleak\u00a0outcome\u00a0in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapiro,\u00a0a popular first-term\u00a0Democrat\u00a0who is seeking reelection, touted investments in schools\u00a0and universal free breakfast, and an unemployment rate that has been below average for 43 straight months.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re creating more\u00a0opportunity\u00a0for all Pennsylvanians, rural, urban and suburban,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cAnd at the same\u00a0time,\u00a0we\u2019re putting money back in Pennsylvanians pockets because we know they\u2019re struggling.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But he said that progress could be reversed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of it is being threatened by people who just simply\u00a0want to be a rubber stamp for this president. People like my opponent,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Shapiro\u2019s challenger is state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. A poll released earlier this week<\/a>\u00a0showed Shapiro has a double-digit lead over Garrity.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Targeting Central Pa.<\/p>\n

Democrats\u00a0hope\u00a0to flip the 8th\u00a0and 10th\u00a0congressional districts and reelect\u00a0Malone\u00a0to the senate, creating what they call a trifecta win in November.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Haley O’Brien \/ WITF<\/p>\n

Supporters hold up signs at the Rise Up Pa. launch Saturday.<\/p>\n

If\u00a0Stelson\u00a0wins, she will unseat\u00a0Perry,\u00a0a\u00a0seven-term\u00a0congressman\u00a0who previously served in the State House of Representatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Stelson said she will focus on affordability and rooting out corruption.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe does whatever Donald Trump tells him to,\u201d Shapiro said about Perry. \u201cThis is the infection that exists right now in the Congress of the United States.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Democrats in Pennsylvania hope their effort\u00a0will help the party take control of Congress and weaken the president\u2019s power.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to keep our\u00a0foot on the gas to make sure we not only taking advantage of the moment that\u00a0the delusional president has given us,\u201d DePasquale said. \u201cAlso expanding on our state house, flipping the state senate, reelecting our\u00a0governor and making Donald Trump a lame duck president.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"WITF<\/p>\n

Help make trusted journalism available to everyone. Support WITF today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" July 18, 2026 | 6:46 PM The campaign initiative aims to elect Democrats in competitive districts …\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246899,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-246898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246898","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=246898"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246898\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}