Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, one of the Democrats’ top prospective 2028 presidential nominees, this week announced an election task force that will center efforts on “working together to combat misinformation, safeguard the rights of every citizen, and ensure this election [2024] is safe, secure, free, and fair.”
In other words, the crucial presidential battle over Pennsylvania is primed to become even hotter and, as anticipated by Shapiro, contentious than ever.
You can expect Trump and the GOP to highlight Shapiro’s measures in the coming months, linking his political affiliation (Democratic) and presidential aspirations in 2028 (legit) to cast doubt on any outcome that might not be favorable to the former president.
Biden is currently leading PA by .8% in the RCP average, although the most recent polls have Trump pulling ahead, and the conventional wisdom is that Trump is now the state’s front-runner.
However, as we get closer to November, expect Trump and his team to increasingly train their fire on PA and its popular governor (he’s not running against Trump, but if he did, he’d trounce him by 11% in PA).
Now… all the potential contention could actually bolster Shapiro’s name for a 2028 contest.
Right now, Shapiro has cast himself as a moderate and not particularly endeared himself to the activist base (remember, he called for the firing of the University of Pennsylvania’s president and supported a GOP-led voucher program before eventually backing down on that one).
But in the “common enemy” era, a GOP onslaught against his task force, with Shapiro’s name thrust in the nightly news, could raise his profile and popularity with Democrats of all varieties.
In the event PA again proves pivotal and Shapiro holds the line with his task force, a) how many segments would he get on Maddow and lefty sites (lots) and b) how much would the GOP brand him as the bete noire of the Deep State (extreme – one can only imagine how ugly on the far right it could get with Shapiro’s Jewish background. “Globalist” meme possibilities are endless).
In short, this is the kind of fight a moderate like Shapiro could certainly use – he wouldn’t have to alter his ideology, but could score major points with every ideological wing of his party.
*By the way, PA’s Secretary of the Commonwealth, Al Schmidt, will be leading the security task force, but would that actually make a difference to a GOP angry at PA’s outcome?
Not likely. He’d probably be branded a RINO, in the vein of Brian Kemp or any Republican who defied Trump’s attempt to decertify the 2020 results.
