Will Shapiro's PA Success Translate at the National Level?

Review: Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service, by Josh Shapiro (Harper, 272 pp., $30)

Shapiro embraces his faith, believes in government as a force for good, and casts himself as a pragmatist with real bipartisan appeal. It’s not hard to imagine this path to the White House. After all, it’s the one traveled by Joe Biden in 2020. Will that lane still be there in 2028? Will he be the one in it? Time will tell.

To paraphrase the political journalist John Baer, what it takes to be successful in a conservative and parochial state like Pennsylvania rarely translates to national success. Biden was born here but he practiced politics elsewhere. James Buchanan seized the brass ring and then steered our country into a catastrophic civil war. More recently, governors and senators alike have discovered that mastering the state’s politics rarely sets you on a path to national success. We have entrenched special interests and a disengaged citizenry that skews whiter and older than the national average. Success here tends to leave you with a closet full of skeletons and feet of clay. 

Will this be a problem for Shapiro in being re-elected in Pennsylvania? It’s hard to imagine as he has cleared the field of contenders. Would this reputation hurt him in a Democratic primary for president? Hard not to imagine. 

As Shapiro puts it, “the reason I have earned the support I have from Pennsylvanians is because I have at times been willing to take different positions [from the Democratic Party] because they’re what I believe. Because I reflect the common-sense sensibilities of my home state.”  For what it’s worth, that sounds similar to what Gov. Robert Casey, Sr. said about his pro-life views in 1992.

Shapiro’s greatest triumph was trouncing a far-right Republican candidate, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, when he first ran for governor in 2022. Shapiro shares that a black Baptist preacher talked with him about the need to demonstrate his faith: “Real religion is … moving toward hard places and people in need, not away from them. You are doing that. This is what you live. That’s real politics the way [the Biblical] James talks about real religion. This is how you need to talk about real freedom – the ways in which you are bearing it out.”

In Shapiro’s words, he and Democrats:

This is Shapiro at his most aspirational. Like the man himself, the writing is a bit stiff, and the sequence of events is likely true but also feels contrived.

Left unsaid is that his opponent ran arguably the most disastrous gubernatorial campaign in Pennsylvania history. Doug Maistriano raised so little money that when you heard his voice it was in an ad run by Shapiro. Shapiro ignores how he cleared a path for Mastriano by running ads attacking him, raising his stature with that party’s faithful. In practice, Shapiro has sharp elbows, though that goes against the brand he is building.

He does, however, sharply criticize Kamala Harris’ team when he was considered as her Vice President. Apparently this chapter is in response to her book, 107 Days, that contains “blatant lies” about him.

Harris allies (almost certainly) leaked the story that Tim Walz was also sharply questioned about China because of his time there. Shapiro’s account is the kind of story that endears him to moderate Republicans in Pennsylvania. However, I’d argue that it will do him no favors if he does have national aspirations. While Harris is unlikely to be the nominee a second time, she has ardent supporters and allies. 

But knowing when to grin and bear it, and when to throw an elbow, is one of the finer points of life in politics. Only time will tell if this is a tempest in a teapot, a strategic blunder, or clearing a lane. 

Shapiro articulates a vision of America, and a version of himself, that deserves to be true.

“I love public service. Every single day, I am grateful that I get to wake up and do it. There’s nothing in this world I’d rather do,” he writes. “I know how fortunate I am to be here, and I’ve worked so hard to get to this place. I also know that I am here in service of the people of Pennsylvania, and that work fills me with such great purpose. It’s my goal and my duty and my honor to put in the work and to give them my full time and attention. I wouldn’t do it any differently.”

John Hinshaw is a Professor of History at Lebanon Valley College.