Philadelphia's police union endorses Gov. Josh Shapiro for his reelection bid
The endorsement of Shapiro from Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 is notable for an organization that just a few years ago was seen by some Philadelphia Democrats as politically toxic.
Philadelphia’s police union on Tuesday endorsed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s reelection bid, announcing its continued support for the first-term Democratic governor while touting his commitment to law enforcement.
“Every day, he has shown a commendable ability to work with local law enforcement and deliver the resources and support we need to protect and serve our friends, families, and neighbors,” said Roosevelt L. Poplar, president of the Fraternal Order of the Police Lodge 5, which represents over 14,000 active and retired Philadelphia police officers and sheriff’s deputies.
In a statement, Shapiro said he was “honored” by the endorsement.
“I’m going to keep fighting for the brave law enforcement officers who work to keep Philadelphia safe every single day,” he said. “I believe all Pennsylvanians deserve to be safe and feel safe in their communities — and we have focused every day on funding law enforcement and supporting the men and women that protect and serve our Commonwealth.”
It marks the second time the police union has embraced Shapiro for governor after endorsing him in 2022 over Republican candidate Doug Mastriano, who the then-president of the union said couldn’t be trusted to protect their collective bargaining rights. Shapiro, a former state attorney general, was a reliable government official who the union said was “there to help us with whatever we need to do.”
This election cycle, Shapiro holds a commanding lead over his Republican opponent, Treasurer Stacy Garrity, according to a recent poll from The Philadelphia Inquirer, The New York Times and Siena University. The union has previously supported President Donald Trump, but Shapiro attracted its backing over Garrity, who Trump has endorsed in the Pennsylvania governor’s race.
Shapiro has also received support from other organized labor unions, including the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO and the Pennsylvania Professional Fire Fighters Association. On Monday, he received the backing of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association.
Shapiro has maintained a comfortable relationship with law enforcement, and his campaign noted that he has signed multiple state budgets funding 2,000 additional officers across Pennsylvania and allocated more than $1 billion in community-based violence prevention grants.
In his statement, Poplar also commended Shapiro for providing funding for police department needs.
“The Governor has delivered on his promise to invest in public safety, he has shown up with us in times of tragedy, and he has proven his commitment to keeping our officers and the communities we serve safe,” he said.
The police union’s endorsement of Shapiro is notable for an organization that just a few years ago was seen by some Philadelphia Democrats as politically toxic.
In the aftermath of the 2020 Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd, protests by racial justice activists swelled in Philadelphia and across the country with many of the movement’s participants calling to “defund” or abolish the police. They pressed local lawmakers to redirect police funding to social services, and Philadelphia City Council in June 2020 canceled a planned increase to the Philadelphia police budget.
Amid the calls for reform, the FOP was a major point of contention, as was its bombastic former leader, John McNesby. Activists — and many of their allies in elected office — said the union was too resistant to change and protected bad cops.
At the time, Shapiro was running for reelection as the state attorney general, and his campaign presented him as a “progressive reformer” who had established a unit in his office to review criminal convictions that may have been unfairly applied and a council to support people leaving prison with housing and employment opportunities. The FOP endorsed Shapiro’s 2016 and backed his 2020 campaign for attorney general.
Unlike some Philadelphia Democrats, Shapiro — who has rumored ambitions for a presidential run in 2028 — did not embrace the “defund” movement. He argued during a 2020 trip to Philadelphia that addressing structural inequities in the department and having strong law enforcement, especially in communities with high levels of poverty, were not mutually exclusive endeavors.
“We reject that poverty or institutionalized indifference and marginalization should mean that some people don’t get to have a safe community to live in,” he said. “We won’t give up on the belief [of] law enforcement showing up in a community to make people feel safer.”
In the years following 2020, public support for police in Philadelphia appeared to grow. The city saw a historic spike in gun violence, and Republicans nationally portrayed Democrats as soft-on-crime. When a half-dozen Democrats were fighting for the mayoral nomination in 2023, polling showed that most voters saw public safety as the No. 1 issue driving the race. None of the candidates embraced “defund,” and most of them supported proposals to provide additional resources to the police department as it sought to solve shootings.
In the end, the tough-on-crime mayoral candidate — then-City Councilmember Cherelle L. Parker — won decisively.
