> At a Glance
> – Josh Shapiro will formally announce his second-term campaign for Pennsylvania governor on Thursday.
> – The 52-year-old Democrat has been floated as a possible 2028 presidential contender.
> – His Republican opponent, state treasurer Stacy Garrity, says he’s focused on “Pennsylvania Avenue,” not Pennsylvania.
> – Why it matters: A big re-election win in the premier swing state could fast-track Shapiro onto the 2028 short list.
Josh Shapiro steps onto a Pittsburgh stage Thursday to kick off a re-election bid that doubles as an audition for higher office, capping a first term packed with crisis management and national TV hits.
First-Term Firestorm
Shapiro took office in 2022 with a 17-point landslide and almost immediately faced:
- The attempted assassination of Donald Trump
- The manhunt and capture of Luigi Mangione
- The deadliest day for PA police since 2009
- An arson attack that torched the governor’s mansion overnight, forcing his family to flee
Each crisis landed him on Sunday shows and cemented a reputation for staying cool under TV lights.
Policy Moves & Political Risks
He reopened I-95 in under two weeks, coined the slogan “get s– done,” and broke with his party to back a GOP school-voucher plan-angering Democratic allies.
On energy, he carved out moderate turf in the nation’s #2 natural-gas state, while courting data-center investors and AI-chip plants with billion-dollar tax breaks.
National Stage
Shapiro campaigned last year for Democratic governors in New Jersey and Virginia, logged hits on podcasts from Ted Nugent to TikTok, and was vetted for Kamala Harris’s 2024 ticket before she picked Tim Walz.
Harris later wrote that Shapiro “mused he’d want to be in the room for every decision,” raising doubts he could accept the VP’s #2 role. Shapiro called the claim “blatant lies.”
2026 Match-Up
Republicans endorsed two-term treasurer Stacy Garrity, a frequent Trump-rally speaker who argues:
> “We need somebody more interested in Pennsylvania than Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Shapiro counters that Garrity is too tied to Trump to advocate effectively for the state.
Key Takeaways
- Shapiro keeps strong approval and a fund-raising machine built during two terms as attorney general.
- He’s already sued the Trump administration a dozen times and needles JD Vance over food-aid cuts.
- A resounding 2026 win would outshine term-limited Gavin Newsom and off-the-bench Pete Buttigieg in the 2028 invisible primary.
Thursday’s twin rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia signal the kickoff of a campaign that could shape both Pennsylvania’s future and the next Democratic presidential contest.
