October 18, 2022
It's not easy to find issues in Pennsylvania's race for governor where the positions of Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican Doug Mastriano overlap.
For example, Shapiro wants to make it more convenient for people to register to vote and to cast their ballots. He also promises, if elected, he will stop any anti-abortion legislation that makes it out of the State Assembly. Both are in stark contrast to Mastriano's plans.
LATEST: Election Night coverage of the Pennsylvania governor race
Shapiro was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and then raised in Drescher, Montgomery County. He attended school at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school in Bryn Mawr, and while there, started a group to support Jewish families attempting to emigrate from the Soviet Union. It was an experience that he has said influenced his political career.
After graduating from University of Rochester in 1995, Shapiro moved to Washington, D.C., with his wife in 1997. There, he worked on Capitol Hill while attending night classes at Georgetown University's law school. He returned to Pennsylvania to run his first political campaign and was elected the state representative for the 153rd District in 2004, where he served until 2010.
Not long after leaving Harrisburg, he ran for a seat on Montgomery County's Board of Commissioners, and was on the board when the Democrats took aback the majority for the first time since the Civil War.
MORE: John Fetterman, Mehmet Oz square off in heated Pennsylvania race for U.S. Senate
If elected governor, Shapiro has vowed to veto any anti-abortion bill that comes across his desk. In the aftermath of Roe v. Wade being overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court, he notes he would keep abortion legal in Pennsylvania, pointing to Mastriano's proposed bill that would ban abortion after six weeks gestation.
The Democrat also says he would establish automatic voter registration, implement same-day registration of voting, and enact early in-person voting in order to expand access throughout the state.
Shapiro has a plan to cut costs for families struggling with inflation by distributing $250 gas-tax refunds for every personal vehicle registered in Pennsylvania; eliminating the state's cell phone tax, and expanding the Property Tax and Rent Rebate system, making 275,000 more people eligible.
After being elected attorney general in 2017, Shapiro investigated the Catholic Church's decades-long child sex-abuse scandal. A grand jury report identified more than 300 priests and thousands of victims.
Also as attorney general, Shapiro has cracked down on the proliferation of ghost guns, advocating for a federal rule requiring background checks to purchase gun parts, and he was instrumental in negotiating Pennsylvania's $1 billion portion of the national opioid settlement with three pharmaceutical distributors.
In December 2020, Shapiro argued before the U.S. Supreme Court regarding Texas' lawsuit attempting to overturn election results in four states. The case was later unanimously blocked by the court.
In addition to support from the state's Democratic establishment, Shapiro has received the support of several former Republican lawmakers who believe that Mastriano is too much of an "extremist" to serve as Pennsylvania's governor.
More information about Shapiro and his plans for Pennsylvania are available on his campaign website.
