Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is opening up for the first time about how growing up in a sometimes "unhappy childhood home" helped shape his approach to life and politics, including a desire for "control."
Why it matters: Shapiro's revelations, described in his new book due Jan. 27, offer insight into the psyche of a top Democrat who's widely seen as a likely contender for the party's presidential nomination in 2028.
- Axios obtained a copy of the book, which also includes Shapiro's claim that when then-Vice President Harris' team was vetting him to be her running mate in 2024, a Harris aide asked Shapiro, who's Jewish, whether he was an Israeli agent.
Zoom in: Shapiro's description of his childhood in his book, "Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service," is likely to resonate with those who grew up in similar circumstances — and sheds light on some of his rough edges.
- His critics, including some in his own party, often have described him as overly controlling.
Shapiro says in the book that his mother, Judi, struggled with mental health challenges.
- He says he felt safe and his needs never went unmet, and that his home was often a happy one. But he also describes a household marked by "chaos" and "yelling."
- "My siblings and I thought that if we were good, we could ... keep a sense of calm for my mom and the house overall," he writes.
Shapiro says the experience made him closer to his brother and sister but isolated him from others.
- "I felt like there was a huge part of my life that I couldn't share with others," he writes. "I never brought other kids over to play inside for fear of what they might see or hear."
- Shapiro says his mother suffered from a traumatic and unsafe childhood herself, and that her father left home when she was 2 years old. He laments that she had few avenues to address her problems, having grown up at a time when therapy was taboo, and stresses that he loves her.
Zoom out: Shapiro writes that his childhood has impacted the roads he's taken throughout his career and personal life.
- "I can trace many decisions I've made, the soft spots I protect, the way I move through the world and the manner in which I lead, to growing up in the midst of my mom's challenges," he writes. "It explains why I sought a path that would give me control and autonomy."
- Shapiro has frequently pursued executive roles. He was recruited by national Democratic leaders to run for the U.S. Senate in 2016, but declined and instead successfully ran for state attorney general.
- He says that he took himself out of consideration to be Harris' VP nominee. Many Democrats speculated at the time that he didn't want to be second fiddle to anyone.
Shapiro, 52, writes that his background also "explains why I always sought to solve problems and "the kind of husband I am, the sort of father I try to be" because he wants to avoid the difficulties he lived through for his four children and his wife, Lori.
- "I sought out the comfort in feeling like I was in charge of something, that I was in control and in command in a way that I never quite felt like I had at home."
- He also says it explains why he roots for "the underdog." Shapiro built his profile in Pennsylvania in part by taking on sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.
Our thought bubble: The passages from Shapiro are remarkably revealing for someone who doesn't normally wear his heart on his sleeve.
- That likely isn't by accident. Candidates gearing up to run for president often release memoirs and give long-form interviews to help develop an emotional bond with voters.
- "This is not something I have talked much about, even privately, but certainly not publicly," Shapiro writes. He says not doing so "would ignore the fact that mental health is something that most families grapple with but so few feel comfortable talking about" and would leave out "the piece of me that has influenced basically every part of my life."
