Pennsylvania Lawyer Normal Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who gained nationwide prominence after investigating sexual abuse within the Catholic church and pushing again on lies about election fraud, has launched a marketing campaign for governor.
“I perceive folks really feel like our politics are divided and damaged proper now, however we will’t simply take our ball and go residence,” Shapiro mentioned in a video declaring his candidacy Wednesday. “There’s an excessive amount of on the road. “All of us have a accountability to point out up, to face up and to combat for what’s proper.”
President Joe Biden narrowly carried battleground Pennsylvania in 2020, flipping a state Donald Trump received in 2016. The state can be amongst a crop of Biden-won states — together with Arizona, Georgia, Michigan and Wisconsin — the place 2022 gubernatorial races can be intently watched for clues main within the subsequent presidential election.
Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf is term-limited in 2022, and Shapiro, 48, has lengthy been seen as a field-clearing candidate and his celebration’s prime choice to succeed him. Republicans, in the meantime, have a big gubernatorial major brewing, with former Rep. Lou Barletta — a shedding Senate candidate in 2018 — and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale amongst these operating.
Shapiro made frequent appearances on nationwide TV after final 12 months’s presidential election to rail towards Trump’s false claims {that a} second time period had been stolen from him.
“Already there are Republicans operating for governor who wish to lead us down a darkish path, undermine free and honest elections, strip away voting rights and completely divide us,” Shapiro mentioned in his video. “That’s the sort of divisive politics that will get in the way in which of fixing actual issues.”
Barletta rapidly responded to Shapiro’s launch Wednesday morning.
“He has zero actual world expertise and would lead Pennsylvania even additional within the fallacious path than Wolf has,” Barletta mentioned in a press release emailed by his marketing campaign. “Pennsylvanians are determined for change. I stay up for sharing my optimistic imaginative and prescient with voters — Republican, Democrat, and Impartial — and the way we will unite collectively to revive frequent sense to the commonwealth.”
