PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro launched his long-expected campaign for governor Wednesday, officially entering a race in which he's already considered the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Shapiro, a 48-year-old Abington Democrat who was reelected last year to a second term as the state's top law enforcement officer, made the announcement in a video posted online. He's scheduled to hold campaign events Wednesday in Pittsburgh and Montgomery County.
"I've spent my life taking on the big and powerful on behalf of those who've been wronged, citizens who've been left out, and communities that have fallen behind," Shapiro says in the video. "I understand people feel like our politics are divided and broken right now, but we can't just take our ball and go home. There's too much on the line. We all have a responsibility to show up, to stand up, and to fight for what's right.
"As governor, I'll stay in the game no matter what, and together we'll build a future we can all believe in," he says, as the video shows Shapiro playing basketball.
Shapiro is the only high-profile Democrat to enter the 2022 gubernatorial race so far, and he isn't expected to face significant competition. Party leaders have already largely rallied behind Shapiro, seeing him as their best chance to hold on to the office after Gov. Tom Wolf's term ends in January 2023. Republicans control both houses of the state legislature.
Shapiro has faced some criticism from the left during his tenure as attorney general, especially from those who want more expansive changes to the criminal justice system. But as an indication of Shapiro's strong position in the party, his announcement video features support from a well-known progressive: Ed Gainey, a state representative and Democratic nominee for mayor of Pittsburgh who shocked the Pennsylvania political world in May when he defeated incumbent Mayor Bill Peduto in the primary.
Shapiro, Gainey says in the video, "will always fight to protect voting rights."
Shapiro's glide path to the Democratic nomination stands in contrast with a crowded Republican primary field that could grow in the coming weeks. The GOP candidates include former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta, who was the party's 2018 U.S. Senate nominee; former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain; political strategist Charlie Gerow; and Guy Ciarrocci, former CEO of the Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry.
State Sens. Doug Mastriano, Dan Laughlin and Scott Martin have said they're considering running, and some GOP insiders expect Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman to jump in.
Shapiro's national profile grew late last year when he publicly, and then representing Wolf's administration, repeatedly pushed back against President Donald Trump's baseless claims of election fraud in the state. His campaign video never mentions the former president, although it does show images from the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection and accuses Republican gubernatorial candidates of wanting to "lead us down a dark path, undermine free and fair elections, strip away voting rights and permanently divide us."
Shapiro filed a lawsuit last month seeking to block a Senate GOP subpoena that demanded millions of voter records from the Wolf administration. The case is pending.
First elected Pennsylvania attorney general in 2016, Shapiro gained national prominence two years later when he released a state grand jury report accusing the Catholic Church of covering up decades of child sexual abuse.
He was previously chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners and a state representative.
Shapiro had $2.7 million in his campaign account as of Dec. 31, the date for which the most recent figures are available.
