PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro To Announce Run For Governor

HARRISBURG, PA — Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro will kick off his long-anticipated gubernatorial campaign Wednesday in Pittsburgh. Shapiro, 48, will be the first and perhaps only Democratic candidate to launch a bid to succeed Gov. Tom Wolf, who is barred by the state constitution from seeking a third term next year.

Shapiro's campaign confirmed Wednesday's announcement to the Associated Press and other media outlets.

Shapiro chaired the Montgomery County commissioners and was a state representative before being elected attorney general in 2016.

Shapiro drew national attention and made a name for himself over the past year by challenging former President Donald Trump's claims about the 2020 election. Shapiro fought in court against the former president's followers in the wake of claims that Democrats cheated and "stole" the election. No evidence of widespread voter fraud has been presented to support those claims.

Shapiro last month filed a lawsuit attempting to upend an effort by Republicans in the state Senate to obtaining voting and personal identification information of 9 million state voters as part of what the GOP terms a "forensic audit" of the election.

Shapiro's first term as attorney general saw the release of a scathing, 1,350-page grand jury report that detailed the alleged widespread sexual abuse of more than 1,000 child victims by 300 priests in six of Pennsylvania's eight dioceses.

The grand jury uncovered "credible allegations" against the hundreds of alleged predator priests in the dioceses of Allentown, Erie, Greensburg, Harrisburg, Pittsburgh and Scranton.

While Democrats seemingly have united behind Shapiro in the governor's race, a myriad number of Republicans are vying for the GOP gubernatorial nomination.

They include former U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta of Luzerne County; Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale; Allegheny County attorney Jason Richey; Cumberland County political consultant Charlie Gerow; Bill McSwain, the former U.S. Attorney in Philadelphia; Dave White, a Delaware County businessman; Jason Monn, the former mayor of Corry, Erie County; Dr. Nche Zama, a Monroe County physician and John Ventre of Westmoreland County, a retired UPS executive and state director of the Mutual UFO Network - an organization that investigates reports of unidentified flying objects.

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