HARRISBURG, Pa. (KYW Newsradio, AP) — Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro is reaching across the aisle, nominating a former Philadelphia City Commissioner to be the next Secretary of the Commonwealth. Shapiro, a Democrat, is tapping Philadelphia Republican Al Schmidt to head up the Pennsylvania Department of State, which includes overseeing how all 67 counties run elections.
Shapiro made the post his first Cabinet selection to be publicly announced ahead of his Jan. 17 inauguration. Schmidt, 51, is a Republican, fitting in with Shapiro's theme of fashioning a bipartisan administration in politically divided Pennsylvania.
Shapiro called Schmidt “an integral part of the effort to protect democracy and stop Pennsylvanians’ votes from being thrown out.”
In his announcement, Shapiro noted the decade Schmidt spent as a Philadelphia city commissioner and vice chair of the three-member Philadelphia Board of Elections before becoming president and CEO of the election watchdog group Committee of Seventy a year ago.
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“I think this is a superb pick, you know,” said David Thornburgh, former president of Committee of Seventy. “Al is an accomplished professional and demonstrated that in running elections in Philadelphia for a good while.”
Protecting elections and voting rights was central to Shapiro's campaign, as he emphasized his intention to nominate a “pro-democracy” secretary of state and his role, as attorney general, in fighting efforts in court by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
“Al Schmidt has a proven track record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights and standing up to extremism — even in the face of grave threats," Shapiro said in a statement.
In 2020, Schmidt became the face of Philadelphia's protracted vote count when Trump and his campaign repeatedly claimed that “bad things happen in Philadelphia” and spread lies to sow doubt about the legitimacy of the election in the heavily Democratic city.
With help from Philadelphia, Trump lost Pennsylvania to Democrat Joe Biden.
Schmidt maintained there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in Philadelphia. Trump responded by calling out Schmidt by name on Twitter, calling him a "RINO" (Republican in name only) who "refuses to look at a mountain of corruption & dishonesty."
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It led to death threats from Trump supporters against Schmidt, his family and his staff.
“It included not just me by name, but included members of my family by name, by ages, our address, pictures of our home," Schmidt said in June, testifying before the congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Few, if any, Republicans came to Schmidt's defense at the time.
No lawsuit, prosecutor or election worker has produced evidence of widespread fraud in Philadelphia's 2020 election.
Schmidt has since become a prominent critic of what he has called the “vicious cycle” of conspiracy theorists and politicians who spread lies about elections. The falsehoods prompt deceived constituents to demand that politicians do something — usually resulting in a push to restrict voting rights and violent threats to election workers, Schmidt has said.
Schmidt’s confirmation will require a two-thirds vote of the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania Senate, but he can work as acting-secretary until he’s confirmed.
The $165,000-salary job involves giving counties guidance and assistance on how to manage elections — a task that has grown in complexity with the advent of the state's no-excuse mail-in voting law and Trump-inspired conspiracy theorists. The department also administers a long list of professional licensing commissions that report to the department.