Pennsylvania’s Democratic attorney general Josh Shapiro has formally entered the 2022 race for governor. He made the announcement Wednesday on Twitter.
“The stakes are too high to sit on the sidelines. It’s time we all get in the game and fight for our rights, our democracy, our Commonwealth,” he said.
The 48-year-old attorney is a self-described progressive. He led a nationally prominent investigation into sexual abuse of children by clergy and raised his political profile by pushing back against Donald Trump’s effort to overturn his presidential election loss last year.
As reported by usnews.com, Shapiro vowed to use veto power as a check on any efforts by Republicans to curtail abortion or voting rights in the state. He promised to reduce taxes to entice business investment while also boosting wages, expanding broadband internet access and lowering the cost of healthcare.
I’m AG Josh Shapiro, and I just launched my campaign for Governor of Pennsylvania.
We need all the help we can get to keep PA blue — and protect our democracy in one of the closest swing states in the country.
Can you RT and follow to help us grow our grassroots team?
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) October 13, 2021
“I think we all know that Pennsylvanians need a governor who will take on the powerful and be on their side,” the candidate told supporters in Pittsburgh at an event launching his campaign.
Shapiro, a former state representative and commissioner in Montgomery County has in recent months built up his national profile through his critics of Donald Trump’s baseless claims of widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
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Last month, he filed a lawsuit in state court against Republican state lawmakers in a bid to stop their effort to subpoena detailed personal information on voters, including partial Social Security numbers, as part of their partisan review of the 2020 election. That legal dispute is in process.
The cost of lies
Shapiro said his Republican challengers were more focused on promoting lies about the 2020 election than in solving everyday problems. He noted that the ongoing election review was being funded by taxpayers.
“There’s a cost to their lies. Not only are they doing real damage to our democracy, but they are holding us back from meeting this moment,” the candidate said.
The attorney general is the only announced Democratic candidate for governor. The Democratic incumbent, Gov. Tom Wolf, is constitutionally barred from running for a third term.
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