PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Gov. Josh Shapiro didn’t wait until an afternoon press conference in Pittsburgh or an early evening presser in Philadelphia to announce his reelection bid for Pennsylvania governor in 2026.
His campaign officially launched with a video Thursday morning lauding Shapiro’s achievements during his first term and repeated an often-used mantra by the governor — “getting sh*t done.”
The campaign launch video discussed everything from the state’s quick rebuild of I-95 and Shapiro’s elimination of college requirements for state jobs to providing more funding to education and law enforcement.
At a reelection event Thursday evening at the Alan Horwitz “Sixth Man” Center in North Philadelphia, Shapiro outlined his plans for a second term if reelected, including doing more to address the affordability crisis.
"We've got to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour in Pennsylvania," he said. "We've got to help more Pennsylvanians achieve the dream of owning their own home and putting an affordable roof over their heads."
Shapiro also said Pennsylvania faces "very real challenges" from "chaos and corruption in Washington".
"Now is not a time for any of us to retreat. Now is a time for us to engage, a time for us to stand up to the bullies," he said.
Shapiro enters the race as a heavy favorite over expected Republican challenger, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
His and Lieutenant Gov. Austin Davis’ reelection campaign ended the year with a record $30 million on hand and early polling gives Shapiro a 16-point lead on Garrity.
However, political observer Larry Ceisler said anything can happen in an election.
“Anything can go wrong for anyone in any situation, but the fact is, Governor Shapiro is in one of the strongest positions for reelection of any incumbent governor in my lifetime,” he said.
Her main line of attack so far is to dismiss Shapiro as “mediocre.” Ceisler said that is unlikely to be a winning strategy against a candidate with so much support.
“If you are going to defeat an incumbent, you have to have a very strong case and one that has a set of facts. You can’t just slap a name or a tag on somebody without something to back it up,” he said.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026.