Shapiro Launches Reelection Bid for Pennsylvania Governor

The first-term Democrat enters the 2026 race with national attention, as allies and rivals watch his strength in a perennial battleground.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro speaks during a campaign event for Democratic presidential nominee, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, at the University of Pittsburgh on Oct. 10, 2024. Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro announced on Jan. 8 that he is running for a second term to lead the key swing state.

Shapiro—who was a final contender to be Vice President Kamala Harris’s 2024 running mate and is widely seen as a 2028 presidential contender—was first elected to the governor’s office in 2022 after defeating Republican nominee Doug Mastriano. Shapiro won the state at the time with 3.03 million votes, or 56.4 percent of the vote.

His record of being the first candidate to receive more than 3 million votes in the state was surpassed by several candidates in 2024, including his likely 2026 Republican opponent Stacy Garrity, who won reelection as state treasurer with 3.5 million votes in 2024—though she garnered 52 percent of the vote in that election to Shapiro’s wider vote margin in 2022.

Republicans have endorsed Garrity as their candidate for governor, with a primary scheduled for May. Mastriano declared on Jan. 7 that he would not seek the nomination a second time.

“Even with a divided state Legislature, together, we’ve gotten a whole lot done on issues that have been stuck for decades, but there’s always more to do,” Shapiro said in a video announcement posted on Jan. 8. “More people to help, more Pennsylvanians to protect, more bridges to build. We’re moving our commonwealth forward. So join me, and let’s keep getting stuff done.”

Shapiro, 52, has garnered a national profile in the party in his first term. He joined the campaign trail last year for Democrats running for governor in New Jersey and Virginia and in 2024 for the Democratic presidential candidate, then Vice President Kamala Harris.

He was the target of an attack in 2025 when an arsonist set fire to the governor’s residence in the middle of the night—forcing Shapiro, his wife, and family to flee.

His campaign video featured a spate of action taken by him as governor in his first term, such as quickly reopening a collapsed section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, opening up a large percentage of state government jobs to those without a college degree, and working with a divided state Legislature.

In the announcement video, Shapiro and supporters framed the I-95 rebuild as a model for how he has tried to govern. The video said officials initially predicted it would take months to rebuild the roadway after the collapse, but the state reopened it to travelers in 12 days.

The video also highlighted the use of materials from a Pennsylvania business and work by Pennsylvania union workers, presenting the project as both an emergency response and an in-state economic boost.

Shapiro has leaned into a public message of bipartisanship in a politically divided Capitol, while also adopting a more plain-spoken style in office.

On jobs and credentials, the video said he signed an executive order opening 92 percent of state positions to people without a college degree and said nearly 60 percent of new hires do not have a college degree.

Shapiro used the video to tie those policies to broader fights that animate Democratic voters. He and his supporters cited access to abortion and framed his approach as blocking government intrusion into personal medical decisions.

Shapiro’s reelection bid will unfold with national attention in the background. He has not said he is running for president, but his next campaign will be read by some Democrats as a measure of his strength in a state that regularly decides close elections.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.