Gov. Shapiro’s victory positions him as a formidable national force | Editorial

Thanks to deep discontent with Donald Trump’s presidency, the midterm campaign was fought on strange new political battlegrounds such as Texas, Kansas, and Alaska, until recently reliable Republican strongholds. At the same time, the top contest in the perennial political battleground of Pennsylvania was uncharacteristically predictable. And that is in no small part owing to broad public support for Gov. Josh Shapiro.

The can-do Democratic governor won a second term Tuesday, defeating Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity by more than 20 percentage points. He also helped lead the state’s Democrats to an impressive string of victories in more closely contested congressional and legislative races, assisting the party’s decisive takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives and securing its first majority in the Pennsylvania Senate in this century.

With the benefit of Shapiro’s political and financial backing, Democrats ousted incumbent Republicans in four congressional districts, including political survivor Brian Fitzpatrick in Bucks County and Trump stalwart Scott Perry in central Pennsylvania, and gained enough legislative seats to control both chambers of the General Assembly.

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Shapiro’s coattails thereby contributed to a crucial check on Trump’s power while putting the Democrat in an unusually strong position to work his will as governor and launch a widely expected campaign for president. The result looked a lot like the resounding gubernatorial reelection with which Chris Christie hoped to catapult himself into the White House from neighboring New Jersey a decade ago — minus the retaliatory political interference with interstate travel.

Tuesday’s result inherently affirms Shapiro’s pan-partisan appeal in a purple state. What he does with a rare legislative majority in Harrisburg could boost his reputation for commonsense competence and concrete accomplishments in an era of poisonous politics and bad government.

Shapiro did have the advantage (not for the first time) of a less than formidable Republican opponent, one who aligned herself all too closely with Trump and gambling interests. And he and other Pennsylvania Democrats clearly caught a national wave of frustration and disillusionment with Trump. But the governor also reaped the benefits of a broadly orderly and ethical administration focused on making the state more livable and “getting stuff done,” epitomized by the rapid rebuilding of I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia after a tanker fire triggered its collapse.

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The governor, moreover, is a skilled communicator who isn’t afraid to answer difficult questions or frequent corners of the state that are politically and geographically distant from his Democratic base and suburban Philadelphia roots. The dividends are evident not just in his approval rating and vote tally but also in the number of voters who appreciate him despite differences of opinion. He offers a compelling alternative to a president who has made himself an avatar of destruction, corruption, and polarization.

The anti-Trump mood of the country, however, will only encourage Democrats to crowd into the presidential primary campaign in a 2028 cycle that will look like it’s theirs to win or lose. A moderate by ideology and temperament, Shapiro would have to compete with fellow Democrats whose positions and personae are more suited to channeling the id of the party’s progressive, power-starved base. He would also be blazing a trail as a Jewish American at a time of deep division over U.S. support for Israel’s hard-line government.

That said, the last successful Democratic nominee for president was also a centrist from Pennsylvania, one who didn’t enjoy Shapiro’s relative youth and energy. Now the governor has an opportunity to “get even more stuff done” in the state capital, as he put it, with plans to increase the minimum wage, encourage more housing construction, fund mass transit and education, regulate data centers, and codify abortion and LGBTQ rights.

It’s an ambitious, public-spirited agenda and a potentially heartening counterpoint to the administration and party that Americans just resoundingly rejected.