He wants to run up the score to help flip as many as four US House districts in Pennsylvania. Boosting Democrats by dominating in a perennial swing state would be an accomplishment Shapiro could cite next year during presidential primary season.<\/p>\n
![\"Shapiro](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/30767f983b53bd31ecb919c4043536dd.jpeg\"\/)
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Shapiro and Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis wave during a rally in Newtown, Pennsylvania, on November 6, 2022. – Hannah Beier\/Reuters<\/p>\n
Shapiro will kick off his 2026 campaign alongside Austin Davis, who is running again to be the state\u2019s lieutenant governor, in what the Democratic governor says in a launch video<\/a> is about another round of what he has long called his \u201cgetting sh*t done\u201d agenda.<\/p>\n That video kicks off with footage from the I-95 overpass collapse<\/a> in 2023, which was expected to take years to repair and snarl traffic around Philadelphia. Instead, the road was reopened<\/a> in less than two weeks following an emergency declaration Shapiro signed and some improvisation that included bringing in high-powered jet engines normally used to dry NASCAR tracks.<\/p>\n \u201cEven with a divided state legislature \u2014 together \u2014 we\u2019ve gotten a whole lot done on issues that have been stuck for decades,\u201d Shapiro says to the camera. \u201cBut there\u2019s always more to do \u2014 more people to help, more Pennsylvanians to protect, more bridges to build.\u201d<\/p>\n He also touts a record that includes removing the college degree requirement<\/a> for many state government jobs, instituting universal free breakfasts<\/a> in public schools and funding thousands more law enforcement officers across the state. He also talks about protecting abortion rights, cutting taxes and pushing back on attacks against elections.<\/p>\n Shapiro is looking to project an air of dominance: Earlier this week, he announced that he raised $30 million over 2025 for the anticipated campaign, with $10 million of that coming just in the fourth quarter. He hit 60% job approval in the state, according to an October poll by Quinnipiac University,<\/a> and is one of the nation\u2019s most popular governors.<\/p>\n Shapiro has won three big statewide victories, twice for attorney general plus his 2022 win to become governor. But this year he is expected to face state treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican with two statewide wins of her own.<\/p>\n An Army veteran who has cast her work in the role as fighting for consumers by saving and returning them money from the state, Garrity has run so far as going up against a politician who hasn\u2019t received enough real scrutiny, like in an ad made out like a thriller mystery trailer that her campaign<\/a> released at the end of last month which ended with the tagline, \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what you can learn \u2026 when you hide in the shadows.\u201d<\/p>\n Pennsylvania State Treasurer and Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity speaks during her “Help Is On The Way Tour” in Newtown, Pennsylvania, on September 25, 2025. – Hannah Beier\/Reuters<\/p>\n From the start, Garrity has been attacking Shapiro for, as her launch video put it, \u201cspending his time running for president and fundraising in California and other liberal states, raising money from far-left mega-donors like (Mike) Bloomberg and (George) Soros,\u201d charging that the state has suffered in education standing and high prices in the meantime.<\/p>\n Shapiro famously didn\u2019t get the big national political promotion he interviewed for after Kamala Harris passed on picking him as her running mate in 2024, in what became another chapter in a long-icy relationship between the two. But he remains a key national figure, a popular swing-state governor and longtime favorite<\/a> of former President Barack Obama whose cadence sometimes makes him sound like the 44th president.<\/p>\n![\"Pennsylvania](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4dda23f4966925a2af15b4abab6ca49a.jpeg\"\/)
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