Raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, Shapiro studied political science at the University of Rochester and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University. After that, he worked as a senior adviser to U.S. senator Robert Torricelli. Shapiro was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2004, defeating former Republican U.S. representative Jon D. Fox. He represented the 153rd district from 2005 to 2012. Shapiro was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 2011, marking the first time Republicans lost control of Montgomery County. Serving on the board from 2011 to 2017, he held the position of chairman, and in 2015, was also appointed chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency by Governor Tom Wolf.
Shapiro was raised in a Jewish household.[13] At age 6, through his synagogue, the Beth Sholom Congregation in Elkins Park, and the Forman Hebrew Day School, he began writing letters to Avi Goldstein, a Soviet Jewish refusenik in Tbilisi, Soviet Georgia, and enlisted others in an international pen pal program he called Children for Avi.[14][15][16] He attended high school at Akiba Hebrew Academy in Merion Station, Pennsylvania.[17] He was a basketball team captain during his senior year.[18] During high school, Shapiro spent five months studying and volunteering in Israel with his classmates, as part of a "service project" requirement, which they completed through "a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery."[19] The program also included service on an Israel Defense Forces base.[20] According to a spokesperson in 2024, Shapiro was "at no time engaged in any military activities".[21][22]
Shapiro attended the University of Rochester, majoring in political science. In 1992, he was the first freshman ever elected student body president of the university. He graduated magna cum laude in 1995.[23] While at Rochester, in 1993 Shapiro published an op-ed in the Campus Times student newspaper titled "Peace not Possible", in which he claimed that peace "will never come" to the Middle East. The Philadelphia Inquirer quoted it as follows: "Palestinians will not coexist peacefully. They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own." He also wrote that he believed then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was in danger of being assassinated by "his fellow belligerent Arabs". In 2024, a spokesperson for Shapiro said that Shapiro's position had changed since he wrote the op-ed and that he now supports a two-state solution.[24][25]
After graduating from college, Shapiro moved to Washington, D.C., where he spent six months working in the Israeli embassy's public diplomacy department beginning in April 1996.[26] According to a Shapiro spokesperson, he worked there "to get foreign policy experience. His job largely involved educating the public about Israel."[26] In September 1996, he began working for U.S. Representative Peter Deutsch.[26] He also worked as legislative assistant to U.S. senator Carl Levin and as a senior advisor to U.S. senator Robert Torricelli.[27] While working for Torricelli, Shapiro planned foreign affairs tours in the Middle East and Asia, including a trip to North Korea.[18] From 1999 to 2003, Shapiro worked as chief of staff to U.S. Representative Joe Hoeffel, who represented parts of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.[28]
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Shapiro as a State Representative, 2009
In 2004, Shapiro ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 153rd district.[27] He faced the Republican nominee, former congressman Jon D. Fox. Shapiro trailed in polling at the beginning of the race, but he knocked on 10,000 doors and ran a campaign centered on increasing education funding and better access to health care.[18] He was elected by a margin of ten percentage points over Fox.[29] Shapiro was reelected in 2006, 2008, and 2010.
As a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he built a reputation as a consensus builder who was willing to work across the aisle on a bipartisan basis.[30] Following the 2006 elections, Democrats controlled the Pennsylvania State House by one seat, but the party was unable to unite behind a candidate for Speaker of the House. Shapiro helped broker a deal that resulted in the election of moderate Republican Dennis O'Brien as Speaker of the House. O'Brien subsequently named Shapiro as deputy speaker of the house.[31] In 2008, following revelations that Democratic House minority leader Bill DeWeese was involved in a corruption scandal, Shapiro called for him to step down, citing him as a "symbol of a broken system" and arguing that DeWeese remaining in leadership would hurt Democrats statewide in the 2008 elections.[32]
In 2007[33] and 2009,[34] Shapiro introduced three separate bills into the House to divest state funds from Iran and later Sudan. The "bill and similar efforts around the country make a moral argument against investing in countries with a history of terror or genocide."[34] "The idea of pulling out of companies that do business with Iran is based on earlier such efforts that crippled the apartheid South African government. But thus far, the South African campaign has not been replicated."[35] In 2010, Shapiro, U.S. senator Bob Casey, and state representative Dan Frankel pushed for national legislation to allow states' pension funds to divest from business engaging with Iran.[36]
While a state representative, Shapiro was one of the first public backers of then-Senator Barack Obama for president in 2008. This was in contrast with much of the Pennsylvania Democratic political establishment, which supported Hillary Clinton in the presidential primary.[37]
From 2006 through 2017, Shapiro also practiced corporate law at the firm Stradley, Ronon, Stevens, and Young in Philadelphia.[38]
Montgomery County Commissioner
Shapiro at a tree-planting event, 2014
Shapiro won election to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 2011. The election marked the first time in history that the Republican Party lost control of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners.[39] Shapiro chaired the board from 2012 to 2016.[40]
Shapiro's commission duties centered on social services and administration.[18] Castor, the only Republican member of the board during Shapiro's tenure, praised Shapiro's work, calling him "the best county commissioner I ever knew" and "very good at arriving at consensus."[18] In 2016, Shapiro voted for an 11% tax increase, which was an average increase of $66 in property taxes.[41] During his tenure, the board of commissioners implemented zero-based budgeting and shifted county pension investments from hedge funds to index funds.[39] Democrats retained a majority on the board of commissioners in the 2015 election, as Shapiro and his running mate, Val Arkoosh, both won election.[42]
In April 2015, Governor Tom Wolf named Shapiro the chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.[43]
Shapiro announced his candidacy for Pennsylvania Attorney General in January 2016.[44] While he had practiced with Philadelphia's Stradley Ronon firm and chaired the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, he had never served as a prosecutor.[45] Shapiro campaigned on his promise to restore the office's integrity following Kathleen Kane's resignation and also promised to work to combat the opioid epidemic[31] and gun violence.
His campaign was supported by President Barack Obama, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and businessman and former Mayor of New York CityMichael Bloomberg, who was among the largest donors to Shapiro's campaign.[46] He won the Democratic primary for attorney general in April 2016, defeating Stephen Zappala and John Morganelli with 47 percent of the vote.[47] In November 2016, Shapiro narrowly defeated the Republican nominee, State Senator John Rafferty Jr., with 51.3 percent of the vote.[48]
Shapiro was reelected in 2020, defeating Republican nominee Heather Heidelbaugh with 50.9% of the vote.[49] He received 3,461,472 votes, the most of any candidate in Pennsylvania history, and outran Joe Biden in the concurrent presidential election.[18]
Before Shapiro took office in 2016, the Pennsylvania Attorney's General office launched an investigation of allegations of sexual abuse perpetrated by members of the Catholic Church. Shapiro inherited the investigation, and in August 2018 released the results of an extensive grand jury report. The report alleged the sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by over 300 priests.[23] It prompted similar investigations in other states into the Catholic Church, such as an inquiry launched by then-Missouri attorney general Josh Hawley.[50]
In 2017, Shapiro announced the roundup of a "Million Dollar Heroin Ring" under "Operation Outfoxed" in Luzerne County.[51] One of those arrested was Maura Kathio,[52] previously charged in a major bath salts case in 2016.[53][54] All the charges in Operation Outfoxed were dismissed after allegations that the attorney general's office mishandled the sealing of wiretapped recordings.[55][56]
In January 2018, Centre County district attorney Bernard Cantorna referred the case of the death of Tim Piazza, a Penn State student who was hazed, to Shapiro, because Cantorna had previously served as a criminal defense attorney for one of the defendants.[57] Multiple defendants pleaded guilty.
In early April 2018, Shapiro charged former Bedford Countydistrict attorney William Higgins with 31 counts of misdemeanor corruption, accusing Higgins of soliciting sexual favors from accused criminals in exchange for recommending lenient sentences and revealing the names of police informants. If convicted by a jury on all charges, Higgins would have faced a maximum sentence of 62 years in prison. Instead, in May, Shapiro offered Higgins a plea bargain, which Higgins accepted: he pleaded guilty to all 31 charges in return for a guarantee of no jail time.[58][59]
In 2019, Shapiro led efforts to ensure that insurance holders of Highmark, a healthcare company, could receive treatment at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.[60] The settlement allowed 1.9million insurance recipients to continue using their existing doctors as in-plan providers rather than being forced to switch either medical providers or insurance providers.[citation needed]
When serving on the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons as attorney general in 2019, Shapiro cast the fewest votes in favor of commutation, denying 24 out of 41 pardons and being one of only two board members to vote against more cases than in favor.[61]
In May 2019, Lancaster County newspaper LNP reported that members of Shapiro's office staff had edited Shapiro's Wikipedia entry to describe him "as a 'rising progressive star' who has 'earned a reputation as a consensus builder eager to take on the status quo and challenge powerful institutions to protect the people of Pennsylvania'". Staffers for Auditor General Eugene DePasquale, Senate minority leader Jay Costa, and Senate majority leader Jake Corman also reportedly edited their bosses' Wikipedia pages. The then-executive director of the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission said that he did not see this practice as illegal under the state's ethics law.[62]
Shapiro and Governor Wolf at a press conference in June 2019
In 2021, Shapiro announced an opioid settlement with Johnson & Johnson and three other U.S. pharmaceutical distributors that resulted in Pennsylvania receiving $1billion.[63] The settlement resolved thousands of lawsuits against the companies for their role in fueling the opioid epidemic.[63]
Shapiro supported enforcing Pennsylvania's anti-boycott law against Ben & Jerry's after the ice cream maker announced that it would not renew its license in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Shapiro called BDS a "stain" that Governor Wolf was right to prevent from taking hold in Pennsylvania and said it "is rooted in antisemitism."[64]
In August 2021, Shapiro settled the largest prevailing wage criminal case in U.S. history. Under the plea, Glenn O. Hawbaker Inc., paid nearly $21million to 1,267 Pennsylvania workers.[65]
He also joined a lawsuit against ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit educational institute, that resulted in a $168million settlement (with about $5million of that going to Pennsylvania students).[66] In 2018, he reached an agreement with federal officials to prevent the distribution of blueprints for 3D printed firearms.[67] In 2019, he came out in support of the legalization of recreational cannabis use by adults, joining Governor Tom Wolf and other leading Pennsylvania Democrats.[68]
In August 2018, Krasner referred the case of a Philadelphia police officer's fatal shooting of Jeffrey Dennis to Shapiro because Krasner had previously served as Dennis's criminal defense attorney. Dennis was in his car when he was "box[ed] in" by undercover officers in unmarked vehicles; three officers were injured after Dennis tried to evade them.[72][73] In December, Shapiro announced no charges would be filed against the officers, saying, "violations of police procedure do not always rise to the level of criminal charges".[73][74] Dennis's family subsequently sued the officer and city of Philadelphia for the incident.[75]
Shapiro reportedly supported a bill in the Pennsylvania state legislature that turned over certain powers of the Philadelphia district attorney to the Office of Attorney General, including "the authority to prosecute the illegal possession, sale, or purchase of firearms".[76] Supporters of Krasner criticized the bill as written in hopes of weakening Philadelphia's home rule authority. Representatives Chris Rabb and Mary Jo Daley, who voted against it, attested Shapiro had privately lobbied in favor of the legislation.[77] The bill passed, but garnered backlash from Democrats who said they were not made fully aware of its contents before they voted for it,[76] and Shapiro faced protests during public appearances afterward.[78]
Actions taken in response to the Trump administration
Shapiro joined several other state attorneys general in opposing President Donald Trump's travel ban,[79] and also sued Trump to block the implementation of a rule that would have made it easier for employers to deny health insurance coverage of contraceptives.[80]
In December 2019, Shapiro charged state representative Movita Johnson-Harrell with perjury and theft of funds from her own charity for such things as vacations and clothing.[82] Johnson-Harrell served two months in prison before being released on house arrest.[83]
In July 2021, Shapiro charged state representative Margo L. Davidson with theft by deception, solicitation to hinder apprehension, and Election Code violations after stealing public funds by filing fraudulent overnight per diem requests and various other expenses through the Pennsylvania House of Representatives Comptroller's Office, as well as hindering a state prosecution.[84] Davidson resigned from office, paid restitution, and was released without bail.[85]
Shapiro had long been expected to run for governor of Pennsylvania, and on October 13, 2021, he announced his candidacy in the 2022 election. In January 2022, Shapiro's campaign reported it had $13.4million in campaign funds, which was described as a record amount for a candidate in an election year.[86] Shapiro faced no opponents in the Democratic primary, and secured the nomination on May 17, 2022.[87] He faced Republican nominee Doug Mastriano in the general election.
Shapiro ran on a platform of protecting voting rights, abortion rights, and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour. His campaign was criticized by some progressives because of his support for capital punishment for "heinous crimes", his public feuds with Philadelphia District AttorneyLarry Krasner, and his compromising with police unions to pass police reform bills.[88] Efforts to enlist a progressive primary challenge to Shapiro were unsuccessful.[88] Shapiro later changed his position, now saying he opposes capital punishment and would sign a bill to abolish it.[89]
During the leadup to the primary election, Shapiro's campaign released a statewide televised advertisement calling a Mastriano win "a win for what Donald Trump stands for", referencing Mastriano's stance on outlawing abortion and his efforts to audit the 2020 presidential election. The ad was seen as an "endorsement" of the Republican candidate Shapiro would want to face in the general election, with Mastriano seen as too extreme for swing voters to elect.[90][91] Mastriano won the Republican primary and his closest opponent, former congressman Lou Barletta, later said that Shapiro's ads likely helped.[92] The impact of Shapiro's ads on the primary is disputed as Mastriano was already in the lead.[93]
Shapiro discusses protecting abortion access, December 2021
Shapiro has said that as governor he would protect abortion access in Pennsylvania and veto any bill the state legislature passes that restricts or outlaws abortion.[94]
Before running for governor, Shapiro had supported capital punishment for what he called "heinous crimes". During his campaign, he announced that he now favored abolishing the death penalty in Pennsylvania, a reversal of his previous position.[89] Shapiro was asked in a 2022 interview with Pennsylvania Capital-Star why his position changed, to which he responded:
[The] question is a fair one ... When I ran for [attorney general] in 2016, I said that the death penalty should be reserved for the most heinous of crimes. But then I got elected attorney general and I saw these cases come across my desk. I got closer to a system that I thought was in need of reform. And as attorney general I never once sought the death penalty. As governor, I'd be in a policymaking role, together with the Legislature ... and I thought it was important when asked to state my position unequivocally that I would sign legislation to abolish the death penalty.
Shapiro also said he would not sign any future death warrants for prisoners on death row.[95]
Shapiro supports cutting Pennsylvania's nearly 10 percent corporate tax rate to 4 percent by 2025. He has proposed hiring 2,000 additional police officers across Pennsylvania, saying, the "more police officers we hire, the more opportunities we have for them to get out of their patrol cars, walk the beat, learn the names of the kids in the communities".[96] Shapiro favors pardoning those convicted for possession of small amount of marijuana.[97]
On efforts to mitigate COVID-19, Shapiro has broken with some in the Democratic Party and opposes mask and vaccine mandates.[98] He prefers educating the public about vaccines' efficacy.[98] Shapiro is also skeptical about Pennsylvania joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a market-based program to reduce some greenhouse gas emissions.[99] He has proposed expanding Pennsylvania's clean energy portfolio for utility companies, greater electric car infrastructure and investing in clean energy research and development.[100] Shapiro supports a Lifeline Scholarship bill, which creates education savings accounts for children in failing public schools that can be spent on approved expenses including tutoring, instructional materials and private school tuition.[101]
Shapiro has proposed a plan that will allow for a $250 gas tax refund per personal passenger vehicle up to four vehicles per household. He proposed funding the proposal with funds from the American Rescue Plan.[102] On the issue of vocational training, Shapiro has proposed increasing career and technical training in high schools, tripling state funding for apprenticeships and union skills programs, and creating a Pennsylvania office of workforce development.[103][104] He also supports eliminating four-year degree requirements for state government jobs.[104] Shapiro is a supporter of unions and has vowed to veto any "right to work" legislation.[105]
On January 29, 2022, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party endorsed him by voice vote. The committee also endorsed his preferred running mate, state representative Austin Davis.[109] Other union support included the Philadelphia Carpenters Union and Sheet Metal workers, the Western Pennsylvania Laborers' PAC, and the Electricians Union Local No. 5 in Pittsburgh.[110]
Eight former Republican officials, including former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice Sandra Schultz Newman and former congressman Charlie Dent, as well as the sitting Republican chairman of the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners, Morgan Boyd, endorsed Shapiro, with several calling Mastriano "extreme" and "divisive".[111] Seven more former Republican officials, including former U.S. secretary of homeland security Michael Chertoff, endorsed Shapiro in August 2022 for the same reason.[112]
Results
On November 8, 2022, Shapiro defeated Mastriano with 56.5% of the vote to Mastriano's 41.7%.[113] He won 17 counties.[113] Shapiro's victory was decisive and uniform across the state. The vast majority of President Joe Biden's voters in 2020 voted for Shapiro, as did many independents and a sizable segment of Donald Trump supporters.[114] The only regions where Shapiro did not do better than Biden in 2020 were in "the most economically marginal, heavily minority" parts of cities like Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, where turnout marginally decreased compared to 2020.[114]
On December 6, 2022, during his transition to the governorship, it was reported that Shapiro tapped several of his longtime aides to serve in high-ranking positions, including naming his campaign manager Dana Fritz as his chief of staff.[118] In January 2023, he appointed Akbar Hossain, an executive to his transition team, to be secretary of policy and named his longtime aide Mike Vereb to be secretary of legislative affairs.[119] Vereb served in that position until he resigned in late September after he was accused of sexual harassment of a female staffer. He was replaced by Thomas "T. J." Yablonski, a senior adviser in the governor's office.[120]
Shapiro's administration was accused of covering up the sexual harassment incident after it was revealed Vereb had remained in his position months after the accusations were made.[121] Shapiro defended his administration's actions, saying that an investigation into the allegations against Vereb is under way. He added, "Obviously these investigations—and again, I'm speaking generally, and I think it's really important that you understand that—these things don't happen overnight. They can be lengthy processes. But it's important, and I know this from my time as attorney general advocating for victims, it's really important to make sure that everyone be heard and that the process be thorough and complete."[122] Weeks later, Spotlight PA revealed that, three weeks before Vereb's resignation, Shapiro's administration had reached a settlement for $295,000 with Vereb's accusers that included a clause preventing all parties involved from publicly discussing its details.[123][124]
In February 2024, Shapiro unveiled his proposed $48.3billion state budget for the 2024 and 2025 fiscal year, mostly consisting of funding public schools, public transit, higher education and infrastructure, with tax collections projected to increase by $1billion.[129] Critics argued that the budget would inflate the state's deficit to over $6billion by 2028 and lead to large tax increases.[130] Ultimately, Shapiro rolled back some of his proposals and signed a $47.6billion budget in July.[131]
Workforce
As governor, Shapiro said he has focused on expanding Pennsylvania's workforce.[132][133] The day after his inauguration, he signed an executive order eliminating the four-year college degree requirement for 92% of state government jobs.[134] On July 31, he issued an executive order establishing the Commonwealth Workers Transformation Program (CWTP), which provides grants to ensure that companies and contractors have the skilled workforce required.[133][135] As part of the program, as much as $400million could be used for workforce training in Pennsylvania until 2028.[135]
On August 28, Shapiro announced that the college education requirement for state police cadets had been eliminated amid a decline in police applicants.[136][137] In September, he signed an executive order that established an artificial intelligence board to "assist employees in serving Pennsylvanians, keeping our communities safe and growing our economy".[138] In March 2024, he issued a directive increasing Pennsylvania's use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs).[139] In May, he issued an executive order establishing the Hire, Improve, Recruit, Empower (HIRE) Committee to attempt to fill in roughly 600 open positions in the state government as well as ensuring the retention of high-performing employees.[140]
Pensions and employee contracts
After assuming office, Shapiro pledged to decrease the power outside investment contractors' have over state pension funds.[141] During his first year in office, he appointed financers Wendell Young, Uri Monson, and Bob Mensch to the State Employees' Retirement System (SERS), a $35 billion-asset board that manages pension reform.[142] On November 6, Shapiro appointed Gregory C. Thall, a former budget secretary under Wolf, as the new chairman of SERS after Chris Santa Maria announced his retirement.[143]
Over three days in December 2023, dozens of Philadelphia transit officers staged a strike over a contract dispute with SEPTA, a standoff that had begun over eight months earlier.[144] Shapiro intervened in the strike and negotiated with the officers and SEPTA, leading to a three-year contract that included a 13% raise increase for the officers over the next 36 months.[145] SEPTA chief executive officer Leslie Richards said Shapiro played "a key role bringing people together to forge this agreement".[146]
On several occasions, Shapiro has proposed raising Pennsylvania's minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15.[147] In June 2023, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that would increase the minimum wage to $15 by 2026, but the Republican-controlled State Senate thwarted the legislation.[148] Shapiro had hinted he would have signed the bill into law if it had passed both chambers of the General Assembly, as Pennsylvania had not raised the minimum wage since 2009.[149] In 2024, Shapiro and other Democratic lawmakers attempted to include a raise in the minimum wage in that year's state budget, but due to Republican criticism, the proposal was withdrawn.[150]
Under Shapiro's leadership, the collapsed portion of I-95 was rebuilt in less than two weeks. Shapiro received praise for his response to the collapse.[153] President Biden said that Shapiro did "one heck of a job" in responding to the collapse; Minority Leader Brian J. O'Neill of the Philadelphia City Council said, "you couldn't ask for more from the governor."[153] A Quinnipiac University poll found that 74% of statewide voters approved of Shapiro's handling of the crisis.[154]
Shapiro proposed investing $282.8million (a 1.75% increase) in funding for public transit systems in the 2024 budget, which would generate $1.5billion for transit funding until 2029.[155] The initial funding proposal was dropped from the budget in July, and SEPTA was given an $80.5million budget extension to keep it solvent until the fall legislative session.[156]
Education
During the drafting of the state budget in mid-2023, Shapiro supported a Republican-led school choice proposal that would distribute $100million to families for private school tuition instead of sending their children to public schools.[157] He later dropped his support to avoid a protracted budget delay after Democrats in the state House refused to support it.[158] Early in his term, Shapiro had pledged to continue the Wolf administration's free breakfast program for all of Pennsylvania's public-school students.[159] It was included as a part of the 2023 state budget Shapiro signed into law in August.[160][161] Lawyers for several state school districts, along with multiple progressive organizations, criticized Shapiro and argued his budget proposals had not done enough to benefit low-income schools.[159]
Shapiro proposed a $1.1billion boost for public school operations and instruction during the drafting of the 2024 budget, a 14% increase from the previous year.[162] Through the 2024 budget, about $144million would financially aid students, a roughly 33% increase, some through existing programs and some through new efforts. A new State Board of Higher Education was established that created performance-based criteria for funding state-related universities.[131] Additionally, the budget initiated over $900 million for special education.[163]
Immigration
In January and February 2024, the Republican-controlled State Senate urged Shapiro to send the Pennsylvania National Guard to the U.S. southern border to help Texas resolve the growing numbers of migrants entering the country, but he declined to do so.[164][165] In March, after the Senate passed a resolution to send troops to the border, a spokesperson for the governor's office said that it was up to Congress, not Shapiro, to resolve the issue.[166]
Crime
In December 2023, Shapiro signed into law a bipartisan bill to restrict the kinds of activities that are considered violations of parole. At the bill-signing ceremony, he stood next to rapper Meek Mill, who was sent to prison on a parole violation for doing a wheelie on a dirt bike.[167]
In his second month in office, Shapiro pledged to continue the pause on state-level executions Governor Wolf had maintained. He also called on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to abolish the death penalty.[168] In 2024, Shapiro filed a brief in support of an Allegheny County inmate appealing his life without parole sentence. The inmate, Derek Lee, was convicted of second degree murder for the actions of his accomplice during a burglary.[169][170]
In August 2023, Shapiro announced his administration would end Pennsylvania's nearly 30-year contract with Real Alternatives, an anti-abortion nonprofit that funds anti-abortion counseling centers and maternity homes. Shapiro said he decided to end the contract to better defend abortion access in the state.[171][172] On September 19, 2023, Shapiro announced Pennsylvania would enact automatic voter registration effective immediately. The process will include voter registration when voting-eligible persons receive their driver's licenses, with the choice to opt out.[173][174]
In the 2024 Pennsylvania state treasurer election, Shapiro declined to endorse Democratic nominee Erin McClelland in her campaign against Republican incumbent Stacy Garrity. McClelland had criticized Shapiro when he was being considered as Harris's running mate.[177]
In November 2024, Shapiro signed an executive order to create the Pennsylvania Permit Fast Track Program, which will streamline and speed up the permitting process for large-scale infrastructure projects that require multiple permits.[181]
Public opinion
Shapiro was historically popular in his first two years as governor, despite being the only governor in the country with a divided legislature.[182][183][184] A February 2024 Franklin & Marshall College poll found that Shapiro had the highest approval rating among voters compared to his four predecessors as governor at a similar point in their terms. Four polls found Shapiro had at least a 51% approval rating.[185] May and September 2024 polls by The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times, and Siena College showed Shapiro as the most popular government official in Pennsylvania, with a 57% and 59% approval ratings, respectively, including support from a majority across every racial and education line and a third of Donald Trump supporters.[183]
Shapiro and President Biden at a small business in Emmaus, Pennsylvania, January 2024
After Biden's June 2024 debate performance against Trump sparked speculation that he would not seek reelection, some speculated that Shapiro might run for the Democratic presidential nomination in that case. Shapiro denied any interest in running for president and declared his support for Biden.[186][187] After Biden withdrew on July 21, Shapiro endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Biden's pick to replace him,[188] and encouraged Democrats to unite in supporting Harris.[189]
His quick endorsement of Harris led to speculation that Shapiro could become her running mate.[190][191] He had initially been seen as the top contender, but faced criticism from progressives for some of his positions, most prominently his stance on Israel amid the Israeli counteroffensive in Gaza.[192] Despite public backing from several prominent Pennsylvania Democrats, including Philadelphia mayor Cherelle Parker, Senator John Fetterman intervened in the vice-presidential selection process, advising Harris on August 3 not to pick Shapiro because he was "excessively focused on his own personal ambitions".[193]
Shapiro's support for Israel during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been criticized by left-wing critics and attributed to his being denied the vice-presidential nomination.[24][200][201][202] Shapiro's supporters allege that his critics unfairly scrutinized his position on the conflict due to his Jewish identity.[203] Critics of Shapiro reject this assertion, pointing to the relative lack of criticism leveled at J. B. Pritzker, another possible Harris running mate who is Jewish, and insisting that the differences between Shapiro's stance and those of governors such as Walz and Andy Beshear are more pronounced than his supporters claim.[204]
Shapiro has supported cutting off state ties with entities that engage in boycotts of Israel, such as BDS, or of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. In 2021, after Ben & Jerry's announced that it planned to end sales in Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem while seeking to continue sales in Israel through a different arrangement,[205][206][207] Shapiro supported calls to apply Pennsylvania's anti-BDS law to Ben & Jerry's.[208] He said that BDS was "rooted in antisemitism" and praised Pennsylvania's anti-BDS law, which was enacted five years earlier.[208] The organizations J Street and T'ruah have opposed similar laws on the ground that they violate the First Amendment.[209] In 2024, according to a spokesperson, Shapiro pledged to sign a bill to block state funding of colleges and universities that engage in a "boycott or divestment from Israel", a term the bill defines to include any activity "intended to financially penalize the State of Israel".[210][211]
Shapiro has repeatedly voiced support for Israel in the Israel–Hamas war. He called on people and governments to condemn the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel, calling it a moment "to recognize what is so clearly wrong, the acts of Hamas, and what is right, and that is Israel, our key ally's right to defend herself in the face of this barbarism."[212] Shapiro faced criticism for his remarks in a letter written by CAIR and signed by 43 Pennsylvania Muslim organizations, which said that Shapiro did not "recognize the structural root causes of the conflict" and "chose to intentionally ignore the civilian loss of life in Gaza".[213] In an interview, Shapiro agreed that the Palestinian population is distinct from Hamas and said, "There are so many peace-loving Arabs and peace-loving people in that region, no question."[214]
On December 3, 2023, a pro-Palestinian protest accused Jewish-owned Philadelphia restaurant Goldie of supporting the alleged genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by sending the restaurant's profits to a provider of protective gear and training for the Israel Defense Forces during the war.[215][216][217] Shapiro visited the restaurant in a show of support and said, "The purposeful gathering of a mob outside of a restaurant simply because it is owned by a Jewish person, well, that's antisemitism, plain and simple."[215] He also criticized University of Pennsylvania president Liz Magill for "failure of leadership" and pressured the university to compel her resignation after she sidestepped questions during the 2023 United States Congress hearing on antisemitism.[216][218] On December 13, Shapiro gave more detailed remarks on the war, saying, "Israel not only has a right, they have a responsibility to rid the region of Hamas and the terror that Hamas can perpetrate." He called on the U.S. to "help support the Israeli people once the battle is over in finding their footing again."[219]
Shapiro has repeatedly criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his handling of the conflict.[201][220] In November 2023, he called Netanyahu "a terrible leader" who "has driven Israel to an extreme that has been bad for Israel and bad for the stability in the Middle East."[220] In January 2024, he said "I personally believe Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the worst leaders of all time and has steered Israel in a wrong direction, and made Israel less safe and made their future less bright because of his leadership."[201]
In a March 2024 interview, Shapiro voiced sympathy for Palestinian civilians and peaceful protesters, saying, "we also can't ignore the death and the destruction that's occurred in Gaza. For those who are peacefully protesting, I support their right to do that and I'll defend that, and I want to make sure they feel heard. And I think in Pennsylvania, they do feel heard."[221] In April 2024, Shapiro condemned pro-Palestinian protests at American colleges after a prominent rabbi at Columbia University urged Jewish students to leave campus and said the university could not guarantee their safety. He called on local officials to "step in and enforce the law" to protect students.[222] Shapiro has been accused of comparing protesters to white supremacists and the Ku Klux Klan (KKK),[223] saying that demonstrators were not "by any stretch" all antisemitic but suggesting that antisemitic speech is treated more leniently than white supremacist speech,[224][225] and comparing students allegedly being "blocked from going to campus just because they're Jewish" to the actions of the KKK, saying, "we have to be careful about setting any kind of double standard" when responding to the conduct of far-right and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.[226][227] Those defending Shapiro's comments observed that he supported peaceful demonstrations, and was not comparing the conduct of all protesters to the KKK. "It's right for young people to righteously protest and question", Shapiro said.[203]
In May 2024, Shapiro called for a police crackdown on the pro-Palestinian encampment at the University of Pennsylvania,[228] but later said he was already aware of police plans to disband the encampment after police made arrests less than 24 hours after Shapiro's statement.[229] Critics of Shapiro have said that he has exaggerated and misrepresented the threat student demonstrators pose to their peers. Rafael Shimunov wrote, "The leap of logic in which Shapiro engaged by suggesting they posed a threat to Jewish safety relies on a perception of Jews who are pro-Palestinian as less Jewish than Jews who are pro-Israel, and a belief that any ideological disagreement with pro-Israel Jews is a kind of violence."[204]First Amendment advocates have criticized Shapiro for a revision to the state employees' code of conduct prohibiting "scandalous" behavior. Pro-Palestinian and Muslim groups raised concerns that the order was intended to chill speech related to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict.[230]
In a interview with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, Shapiro reiterated his support for a two-state solution and said that the Israeli and Palestinian people want a peaceful solution to the conflict that both Netanyahu and Hamas oppose. He also said he was not drawing a false equivalence between Netanyahu and the "terrorist group" Hamas.[231]
Personal life
Shapiro met his wife, Lori, in ninth grade as they both attended Akiba Hebrew Academy, now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, then in Merion Station.[232] They dated in high school and reconnected after college while both were living in Washington, D.C.[232] Shapiro proposed to her in Jerusalem in 1997.[16] They married on May 25 of that year.[233]
↑ "We needed to have a more advantageous tax environment for our businesses, and it was one component of an overall strategy in order to grow jobs and create more economic opportunity in Pennsylvania. I am competitive as hell [with other states, which is] why I've been so aggressively working to cut business taxes."
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