HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) —Montgomery County native Josh Shapiro will take the oath of office as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania on Tuesday.
The ceremony will open with musical acts from across the state, including Chester County’s Lincoln University Choir and the African Episcopal Church of St. Thomas Choir in Philadelphia.
The Pledge of Allegiance will be led by Ronald Scarinci from Philadelphia, a World War II veteran who fought on Okinawa and turns 100 next month.
Shapiro, the state’s third Jewish governor, will be sworn-in on a stack of three Bibles.
One is a family Bible he’s used for every swearing-in since 2005. Another was on the prayer platform at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 when a gunman opened fire killing 11 people.
The third was carried by an infantryman in World War II after he landed in on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
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Senior aides say Shapiro’s speech will focus on four key pillars:
- Shapiro’s willingness to take on big fights on behalf of Pennsylvanians.
- Bipartisan efforts to improve education, public safety, and the economy.
- Efforts to preserve and protect Pennsylvania democracy.
- What Shapiro has called “real freedom” and what that means to residents of Pennsylvania, a carryover from one of his campaign themes.
Shapiro will have 14 guests on stage with plans to mention them in his speech. They include Stephanie Mack and Brittany Sisca, the widows of two State Police troopers who were killed in the line of duty on I-95 last year as they tried to assist a man who was walking on the highway in Philadelphia.
Some of the other guests lost family members to gun violence, while others have family members dealing with opioid addiction.
After Shapiro swears in his cabinet, he’ll spend some time with his family before heading to a celebration later in the day at Rock Lititz, with performances by Wiz Khalifa and Smokey Robinson.
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