Josh Shapiro is hoping his Pennsylvania gubernatorial re-election campaign has House coattails: Pennsylvania could be the whole ballgame for House Democrats on election night.
The results could also offer a big test for the political clout of the state’s Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro, who is running for re-election but possibly has his eyes on a different race in 2028.
The Keystone State is home to four battleground House districts. If Democrats flip them all, it’s more likely than not they will control the House chamber next year.
Shapiro has invested time and resources in winning those seats, — including campaigning this past weekend in Bucks County and the Lehigh Valley — the heart of two of those House districts.
At the Saturday events, Shapiro barely invoked his GOP opponent in the governor’s race, which he is expected to win handily even though Pennsylvania is a traditional swing state. But he did — repeatedly — rail against President Donald Trump and the “chaos and the cruelty and the corruption” coming from his White House.
“When he’s sitting behind a desk in the Oval Office, what’s he doing? He’s not thinking about how to get your healthcare,” Shapiro told the crowds. “He’s making deals that hurt you.”
Pennsylvania, of course, voted for Trump just two years ago, helping return him to the Oval Office. But in an interview with MS NOW, Shapiro said he believes Pennsylvanians have “caught on” to the president’s “BS.”
“You’re seeing a lot of folks realize that they cast a ballot for this guy, put him in the White House, and he turned around and screwed them over,” he said.
Shapiro said he would “welcome” the president — or vice president — to visit Pennsylvania in the last few weeks before election day to campaign.
“I think if they came here, it would not work to their benefit,” he said.
MS NOW spoke with Shapiro between a canvas launch event and a rally in Bucks County, which makes up most of Pennsylvania’s 1st Congressional District — one of the four seats Democrats are focused on trying add to their column. The governor, who was… https://www.ms.now/news/josh-shapiro-reelection-pennsylvania-house-contests-coattails