Eliyahu Gasson | editor-in-chief

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro officially kicked off his reelection campaign in Pittsburgh on Jan. 8.

His announcement capped off an event held inside the headquarters of Union Carpenters local 432 off of Boyce Road that featured remarks from Pennsylvania labor, education and Democratic Party leaders.

Shapiro emphasized unity and empathy as core tenets of his campaign, setting himself up as a counter to U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, taking aim at the administration’s support for cuts to Affordable Care Act subsidies that took effect this year, slashing of federal food assistance through SNAP and tariffs on foreign goods.

“Some politicians who know better are too cowardly to speak up. They abandon their principles … So hear me when I say this, I will not let anyone mess with a Pennsylvanian, and I will always do it for them,” he said.

Shapiro, 52, served as Pennsylvania’s attorney general until 2023, before succeeding former Democratic Gov. Tom Wolfe. Since taking office, his administration has enacted a number of policies, including tax credits for child care, infrastructure repair and maintenance and funding for after-school programs in the state, all of which he touted as achievements to his supporters.

The afternoon speech also came with some early campaign promises for his second term, including raising the minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour.

“The work continues. The mission is not yet complete,” he said. “We’ve got more to do from raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, the dream of owning their own home and putting an affordable roof over their head to producing more energy while protecting the environment.”

Shapiro was preempted by a series of local leaders, including Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O’Connor, who spent his time on stage highlighting investments Harrisburg has made in the city, including a nearly $600 million investment in Downtown that covers projects like renovations to Market Square, Point State Park and the new Arts Landing park on Fort Duquesne Boulevard.

“Those are million dollar investments that are going to benefit us long term,” O’Connor said.

Also highlighted was Executive Order 2024-04 signed by Shapiro that created a permitting fast track program in the state.

“That means Pennsylvania is open for business. And for us in Western Pennsylvania, that means Pittsburgh is open for business,” O’Connor said.

Jonathan Collins, president of the College Republicans at Duquesne, said he’s concerned about jobs leaving Pennsylvania, and doesn’t think Shapiro has done enough to keep them in the state. He’s also concerned about higher than average gas prices compared to the rest of the country.

“We see things like gas prices across the country below $3 a gallon and that’s not happening in Pennsylvania,” he said. “When we’re facing an affordability crisis, this is bad for working people.”

Pennsylvania charges a roughly 58 cents per gallon tax on fuel purchases, one of the highest rates in the country, according to the state Department of Revenue, with the money primarily going toward roads and bridges via the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

Collins said the Pennsylvania Federation of College Republicans are putting their weight behind Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacie Garrity, who announced her bid for the Republican nomination in August. In a campaign video posted on her website, Garrity said she would “work hard to fix the problems Josh Shapiro created.”

Garrity has also accused Shapiro of “spending his time running for president and fundraising in California and other liberal states raising money from left-wing mega donors like Bloomberg and Soros,” and blamed him for the roughly four-month state budget stall in the senate last year.

“I wouldn’t necessarily say the stalling was from the Republicans. It was from an unwillingness from the executive to compromise,” Collins said. “I feel as though the compromise was only because the Shapiro administration was desperate to end the shutdown.”

Shapiro’s announcement came as no surprise to Riley Hunter, president of the College Democrats at Duquesne.

Hunter said that, for the most part, she’s been happy with Shapiro’s first term.

“The biggest thing for me personally is keeping reproductive health care legalized in Pennsylvania, which Shapiro has talked about,” she said.

Hunter said she’s opposed to Garrity because of her support for Trump. During a 2022 Greensburg event with the president and then U.S. State Senate Candidate Mehmet Oz, Garrity said she believed Trump had beaten former President Joe Biden in the 2020 elections.

Garrity has since walked that statement back.

“Just to be clear, that was at a Trump rally … It’s easy to get caught up in a Trump rally. But I have to tell you that, after the 2020 election, I know Joe Biden was the president. I was painfully aware of it,” she said at a Monday news event in Harrisburg.

Both Shapiro and Garrity are currently running for their respective parties’ nominations unopposed. Primary elections will be held on May 19 with general elections following on Nov. 3. Pennsylvania voters can check their registration status online at vote.pa.gov.

Eliyahu Gasson can be reached at gassone@duq.edu