MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Democrat Josh Shapiro has defeated Republican Doug Mastriano to become Pennsylvania’s next governor, marking the first time Democrats will hold the office for three consecutive terms in state history.
Shapiro, 49, pitched himself as a bipartisan consensus seeker who can appeal to both law-and-order conservatives and the progressive left. Party leaders coalesced around him early as the Democratic candidate to replace term-limited Gov. Tom Wolf. Shapiro faced no opposition in the Democratic primary and grew a sizable campaign cash advantage over his Republican counterpart.
"Let me begin by simply saying, 'Thank you, Pennsylvania!'" Shapiro shouted into the mic as he delivered his victory speech Tuesday night.
"These last 13 months of this campaign, I've spent a whole lot of time crisscrossing the commonwealth — showing up at your hunt clubs, your union halls, having an opportunity to talk to you on your street corners and in front of our schools, and I want you to know I've done a whole lot of listening and a whole lot of learning and a whole lot of growing as a result of those conversations. You've helped me by sharing your hopes and fears, your dreams and your worries. You have helped me become a better man, and you have humbled me along the way."
listen to Josh Shapiro's full victory speech
Shapiro thanked his family and supporters and went on to tell the crowd that “real freedom won tonight” and “Democracy endured” in a race he characterized as, in part, a fight to preserve the right to vote, the right to organize a union and the right to an abortion.
He also thanked Republicans he said had voted for a Democrat for the first time, and said that with their vote “comes a responsibility to govern by bringing people together and getting things done.”
“And so, Pennsylvania, tonight we showed how to build a coalition to win a race in a big way, and tomorrow we begin the hard work of building a coalition to govern this commonwealth and move us forward,” Shapiro said.
He did not mention Mastriano, whom he bitterly attacked during the campaign as surrounding himself with white supremacists and being intolerant of anyone different from him.
Mastriano avoids conceding
Mastriano, who ran a hard-right campaign, had not publicly conceded by early Wednesday. Shortly after Shapiro’s comments late Tuesday, Mastriano spoke in a hotel in suburban Harrisburg, telling the crowd they would wait for every vote to be counted and “respect” the decision Pennsylvanians make.
"It's been a fantastic run across the state here. ... It's a people's movement, and it's not going anywhere," Mastriano said to his supporters. "But in this constitutional republic that we have, the people get the last word. And so we're going to wait patiently to see what the people of Pennsylvania said. And what the people of Pennsylvania say, we will of course respect that. And so we're going to stand together, in faith, until every vote count is counted. And then we look forward to celebrating with you."
Mastriano, a state senator from Chambersburg in south-central Pennsylvania, won decisively in the GOP primary, but he received little financial support from the Republican National Committee and was criticized by party insiders for doing little to garner support from swing voters outside his base.
The choice voters faced became starker after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade in June, leaving access to legal abortion in the hands of state governments. Republicans have long held power in the state Legislature, and the next governor will have immense power in signing or vetoing potential bills limiting or expanding abortion access. Shapiro is a staunch supporter of abortion rights. Mastriano supports ending those rights without exception.
Mastriano, 58, is a former U.S. Army colonel who rose to prominence as a vocal opponent of Gov. Wolf’s COVID-19 mitigation efforts and business lockdowns. He is a strong advocate for former President Donald Trump, joining those who, without evidence, challenged the veracity of the 2020 election. Mastriano was outside the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection on Jan. 6, 2021. During the primary, he was considered a weak general election candidate by GOP insiders, who made a failed last-minute push to coalesce behind a more moderate figure.
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Shapiro’s campaign ran an ad during the primary spotlighting Mastriano, saying: “If Mastriano wins, it’s a win for what Donald Trump stands for.” It was a move analysts said was akin to him hoping to choose his opponent.
"Rural, urban, suburban folks across this commonwealth, who I've had the opportunity to talk with, they basically all want the same thing. They want a real opportunity for good schools, safe communities and an economy that just gives everyone a shot," Shapiro said, claiming victory Tuesday night. "No matter how different our commonwealth looks, no matter how different the terrain is, those are the basic values that every single Pennsylvanian has a right to and that I'm going to fight to deliver for."
‘Steely as hell’ with a nice-guy exterior
In 1998, Frank Custer was working for Joe Hoeffel, a newly elected Democratic congressman from Montgomery County. There was a young candidate who Hoeffel was considering hiring.
“So he sent me to D.C. to meet him,” said Custer. “I go down, and the person I'm meeting is Josh Shapiro.”
Shapiro was 24 years old at the time, a recent college graduate working for New Jersey U.S. Sen. Robert Torricelli.
“We immediately hit it off,” said Custer. “I came back, I told Joe, ‘He's a keeper.’”
At night, Shapiro was working on his law degree at Georgetown University. And within about four months — still in his mid-20s — Shapiro took over as Hoeffel’s chief of staff.
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“He was a junior, junior staffer for Torricelli. Was now the youngest chief of staff on Capitol Hill. And, I mean, he didn't just get the job done. He succeeded wildly at the job,” said Custer.
After about five years, Shapiro left D.C. to run for the Pennsylvania House in 2004, but before he left, Custer said: “I told him then that I thought he had a real shot to be the first Jewish president. Now I know, that's getting ahead of where we are now. But I can't think of an attribute that a politician — a successful politician — needs that he doesn't have.”
Shapiro has made his career in politics, rising from congressional staffer to the state House to Montgomery County commissioner to Pennsylvania attorney general. There, he made headlines by working with other attorneys general to sue opioid manufacturers in cases that led to settlements worth hundreds of millions of dollars. He also oversaw a sweeping grand jury report that documented widespread sexual abuse by Catholic clergy in dioceses across the state.
Shapiro was a state representative until 2011 when he won a seat on the Montgomery County board of commissioners, becoming part of the first Democratic majority in the county for 140 years.
Republican Bruce Castor held the minority seat on the three-person board.
“He was extremely good at getting people to agree. And I think that that's a large part of the job that any executive has to do,” said Castor. “I thought he was absolutely terrific, as an administrator, when we worked together.”
While both Custer and Castor say Shapiro has a knack for finding consensus, don’t let the nice-guy exterior fool you.
“Josh has this reputation, well-earned and deserved, of being this nice guy, but what a lot of people don't realize is that underneath the exterior, he's steely as hell,” said Custer. “I mean, he is tough.”
As Castor puts it: “You don't get ahead in the political game by not being able to throw an elbow now and again, and I think that's an asset and not a liability over time.”
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Custer said while Shapiro can throw elbows, he doesn’t rely on them. “There's a lot of politicians who will pay lip service to groups and things like that. But Josh truly, truly enjoys meeting people and never shies away from meeting either individuals or with groups.”
Castor doesn’t expect many growing pains as Shapiro puts together his team. “Being a county commissioner, being attorney general, you add those two things together, that's pretty close to the skillset that you need to be governor.”
In a time of so much dysfunction in Harrisburg, with the governor’s office and the Legislature pointing fingers at each other, Custer said Shapiro has proven he’ll work toward consensus.
“I know a lot of Republicans and I don't ever remember hearing a Republican say a bad word about him,” said Custer. “Now they may have disagreed with his policies, but I've never heard a Republican say a negative word about his character or his honesty or how he goes about things.”