Who is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro?

With President Joe Biden no longer seeking a second term in the White House, the Pennsylvania governor has become a source of speculation.

Biden’s delegates at the upcoming Democratic National Convention in Chicago remain tied to his ticket with Vice President Kamala Harris. One possible scenario is that Harris becomes the Democratic nominee, with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro a plausible running mate.

Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University in south-central Pennsylvania, says she understands why Shapiro is being talked about: He’s smart, tech-savvy and a proven winner in the state with the most electoral votes.

“His social media game is on point,” Dagnes told USA TODAY Network. “I’ve gotten Josh Shapiro TikToks and Instagram Reels and Stories from students, alumni that don’t even live in Pennsylvania anymore.”

Who is Josh Shapiro?

Shapiro was born on June 20, 1973, in Kansas City, Missouri. He grew up in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, and graduated from high school at Akiba Hebrew Academy in 1991.

After earning a degree in political science from the University of Rochester, he went to work on Capitol Hill on the staffs of U.S. Senator Carl Levin, U.S. Representative Peter Deutsch, U.S. Senator Robert Torricelli, and U.S. Representative Joe Hoefell.

While in Washington, D.C., Shapiro attended Georgetown University Law Center, where he earned a doctorate in law in 2002.

Shapiro and his wife Lori have four children.

Josh Shapiro’s Early Career, Obama Connection

Through intensive campaigning and fundraising, Shapiro has enjoyed two decades of sustained electoral success.

He won his first race for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 153rd District in 2004, where he served on the Appropriations, Finance, Insurance, Judiciary, and State Government committees. In 2012, he ran for and won a seat as Montgomery County Commissioner.

Shapiro was an early supporter of Barack Obama, who went on to serve two terms in the White House.

Obama did the same by endorsing Shapiro in his 2016 bid for Pennsylvania attorney general, which he won by a 2-point margin over then-Senator John Rafferty.

Shapiro faced no challenger in his 2020 re-election primary, but he secured another term with a five-point victory over the GOP’s Heather Heidelbaugh.

Josh Shapiro as Attorney General

Shapiro’s tenure as attorney general included several notable initiatives:

Josh Shapiro as Governor of Pa.

Shapiro again ran unopposed in the Democratic primary when he ran for governor in 2022. He faced Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams/Franklin) in the November election.

Mastriano, an arch-conservative who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, was relentlessly criticized by Shapiro’s campaign for his hardline anti-abortion views and his presence at the U.S. Capitol during the 2021 riots. Shapiro raised eight times as much campaign money as Mastriano and won the race by a comfortable 12 points to become Pennsylvania’s 48th governor.

The victory made Shapiro’s running mate Austin Davis the first black lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania.

Though liberal on social issues, Shapiro has won some applause from conservatives in the divided Legislature for executive orders eliminating college-degree requirements for 65,000 Pennsylvania government jobs and ordering executive branch employees to return to in-person work. He has also voiced support for Republican-led efforts to expand school choice in the state — though GOP opponents point out that Shapiro has been unable or unwilling to convince Democratic lawmakers to pass legislation to make that happen.

Shapiro has been governor for almost two years now and has already made national news several times.

In the summer of 2023, he pushed for a quick fix to a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. The job was done in two weeks, and Shapiro’s playbook for a quick fix was featured in the Washington Post.

When former President Donald Trump and several of his supporters were gunned down at a rally in western Pennsylvania earlier this month, Shapiro held a press conference to publicly call for peace and tone down the political rhetoric.

Can a Harris-Shapiro ticket win?

On paper, Shapiro could help a Democratic candidate fronted by Vice President Kamala Harris, at least in Pennsylvania.

Shapiro has a history of winning high-profile races in this crucial swing state. His approval rating as governor — according to polls by the Commonwealth Foundation, a libertarian policy group that has often been critical of Shapiro — has been as high as 60 percent and has never fallen below the mid-50s.

While Dagnes believes Shapiro would run for the White House in the future, she’s not sure he would be the ideal choice for Harris.

She noted that his Jewish heritage and vocal support for Israel could be problematic in parts of the country where anti-Semitism is on the rise. Moreover, outside Pennsylvania, Shapiro may be unknown to those who don’t follow politics closely.

“I think (the Harris-Shapiro ticket) sounds great for the biggest swing states,” she said.

More: 5 Facts About Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer

“Josh Shapiro is very big here. I’m not sure he’s good for national name recognition.”

Bruce Siwy is a reporter for the Pennsylvania state capital bureau of the USA TODAY Network. He can be reached at [email protected] or via X on @BruceSiwy.