Josh Shapiro Launches Re-election Bid Amid 2028 Presidential Ambitions

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro officially launched his 2026 re-election campaign on Thursday, but make no mistake this is about more than the Keystone State. With national Democrats floundering for a 2028 contender who isn’t named Kamala or Gavin, Shapiro is positioning himself as their next great hope.

In a campaign video thick with platitudes and polished PR spins, Shapiro tried to paint himself as a pragmatic problem-solver. He bragged about rebuilding a collapsed I-95 overpass in 12 days, cutting “red tape,” and using local labor as if fixing one bridge offsets the more than 3,000 deficient bridges still falling apart under his watch.

The video, saturated with self-congratulation, does little to address the harsh reality most Pennsylvanians are facing:

• Only 45% of 8th graders in Pennsylvania read at grade level, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

• The state ranks among the worst in the nation for property tax burden, squeezing working-class families out of homeownership.

• Violent crime in Philadelphia remains stubbornly high, with homicides still well above pre-pandemic levels.

Still, Shapiro’s campaign is riding high on a $30 million war chest, with $10 million raised in just the last quarter of 2025. It’s the biggest off-year fundraising haul ever recorded for a Pennsylvania governor which tells you all you need to know about where his focus is: donors, not voters.

And his national ambitions are no secret. Shapiro was reportedly on Kamala Harris’s short list for VP in 2024 a disastrous election cycle where the Democratic Party collapsed under its own incompetence. He’s since campaigned in neighboring New Jersey, tried to stack Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation with hand-picked loyalists, and has spent much of 2025 consolidating his grip on the state Democratic Party.

The groundwork is clear: win big in 2026, then catapult onto the 2028 national stage.

But Republicans aren’t letting him coast. State Treasurer Stacy Garrity is expected to be the GOP challenger this November, with the backing of the state party and broad conservative support. Garrity’s campaign is already hitting Shapiro where it hurts calling out the governor for “gallivanting around the country” while ignoring the day-to-day issues crushing Pennsylvania families.

“Less than half of 8th graders read at grade level, over 3,000 of our bridges are deficient, and Pennsylvania families have one of the highest tax burdens in the country,” said Garrity advisor Matt Beynon.

The contrast couldn’t be more stark: Shapiro is betting on high-gloss campaign videos and national buzz. Garrity is betting on the frustration of working Pennsylvanians who feel abandoned by a governor chasing the White House.

And she might have a point. History is littered with governors who thought they could juggle national ambition and local governance only to find voters don’t appreciate being taken for granted. As GOP strategist John Brabender warned, “The political graveyard is full of candidates who have miscalculated and have tried to run for multiple offices at the same time.”

Shapiro may be beloved by liberal donors and MSNBC pundits, but voters on the ground will decide if he’s truly earned another term or just used Pennsylvania as a stepping stone.

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