In reelection kickoff, Shapiro contrasts successes in Pa. with ‘chaos and toxicity’ in Washington

by Peter Hall, Pennsylvania Capital-Star
January 8, 2026

Kicking off their campaign for a second term, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis offered a vision where Pennsylvanians have abundant opportunities for success, affordable and safe communities and the rights and freedoms they value.

At rallies Thursday in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, Shapiro and Davis revisited their successes and the work left to do as the commonwealth and the nation face foundational challenges amid what the governor called “chaos and the toxicity” in the nation’s capital.

“We’ve got more people to help, and we’ve got more problems to solve,” Shapiro told the crowd gathered at a youth basketball center in Philadelphia. “And so with a servant’s heart and an ear to your concerns, progress made, and with a hunger to do more for you, I am here to announce that I am running for reelection as governor of this great commonwealth.”

But Shapiro said he could not tout the administration’s success without acknowledging that Pennsylvania families are suffering because of the Republican-controlled federal government’s cuts to food assistance and health insurance tax credits.

“Some politicians who know better — are too cowardly to speak up. They abandoned their principles … and in an attempt to position themselves to be better off, they leave a whole lot of others behind,” he said, noting that nearly 500,000 Pennsylvanians will be unable to afford health insurance and more than 100,000 will lose SNAP benefits.

During his speech, Shapiro had to pause several times as the crowd in Philadelphia — about 1,000, according to the campaign’s estimate — spontaneously chanted an earthier version of the campaign catchphrase “get stuff done.” Shapiro used the slogan several times as he outlined accomplishments during his first three years in the governor’s office.

They included the state response to the Interstate 95 disaster that defined the early months of his term, to increases in education funding approaching 30%, eliminating red tape involved in starting a business and hiring 2,000 new state troopers, attracting $35 billion in new private investments and eliminating a college degree requirement for 92% of state jobs. 

“I’m running for reelection to continue that work, and I’m running for reelection because I have never backed down from a fight,” he said, adding, “Right now, we are in a battle to protect the very foundation upon which the place we call home was founded.”

With prices for food, energy, vehicles and other goods soaring, businesses and families are struggling and farmers without markets for their products, Shapiro said the federal government’s actions threaten to erode progress in the commonwealth.

He added that he feels Pennsylvanians’ worries about feeding their families and being stripped of their rights.

“Every step of the way, I’ve stood up for my fellow Pennsylvanians, sometimes in a court of law, and other times by simply refusing to back down, refusing to cast certain Pennsylvanians aside, and always by speaking truth to power,” Shapiro said.

Davis said the campaign wasn’t about him and Shapiro but the potential of state government when it invests and believes its people.

“It’s about being honest and clear eyed and honest about what this moment calls for and the leadership it takes to meet it, because things are very different from when Josh and I were first elected,” Davis said. 

“The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been and we all have a choice to make — follow the politics of fear and division coming from politicians in Washington,” Davis said. “Or we can stand up for our freedom, make our own choices and show the nation what’s possible when great leadership is at the helm.”

Elected in 2022, Shapiro already carried formidable political clout as the sitting state attorney general in his first gubernatorial run. He stood out nationally by suing the first Trump administration over its policies and companies that profited from the broad adoption of opioid painkillers that led to an epidemic of overdose deaths. Shapiro was also a Montgomery County commissioner and a state representative.

Davis was in his second term as a state representative in Allegheny County representing his hometown of McKeesport when he became the commonwealth’s first Black lieutenant governor.

They defeated state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Frankllin), a Trump loyalist and election denier who has introduced legislation to outlaw chemtrails, by 15 points or nearly 800,000 votes. Mastriano announced Wednesday that he would not run for governor again, telling supporters in a livestream with his wife Rebbie, that “God has not called us to run …  this year.”

State Treasurer Stacy Garrity is the likely 2026 Republican nominee to challenge Shapiro. Garrity, who called on state lawmakers to decertify the 2020 election results, is campaigning on her success in returning unclaimed money and property held by the state and her expansion of education savings accounts. 

But her campaign has also indicated that it plans to attack Shapiro on a Philadelphia stabbing case his office reviewed in 2018, when he was attorney general. Shapiro said his office reached the same conclusion as the Philadelphia medical examiner’s office, which has since walked back its conclusion that 27-year-old Ellen Greenburg’s death was suicide despite the finding of 27 stab wounds.

The Shapiro administration has failed to achieve some of the tentpole goals he talked about in the 2022 campaign, including school vouchers – a key goal of Republican lawmakers. Shapiro line-item vetoed a $100 million appropriation in his first budget after a deal with state Senate Republicans was declared a non-starter by Democrats in the state House. 

In Philadelphia on Thursday evening, state Sen. Vincent Hughes (D-Philadelphia) offered a brief critique of Garrity.

“We don’t need a MAGA replica in the governor’s mansion,” he said, drawing boos and jeers from the crowd.

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