Josh Shapiro Goes Big For Down-ballot Dems

Josh Shapiro is making his biggest midterm play yet — with a likely eye on 2028.

The Pennsylvania governor is pouring $3.3 million into a coordinated campaign launching this weekend to help Democrats in the nation’s biggest swing state flip four congressional seats and secure a governing trifecta in Harrisburg for the first time in three decades, according to details shared first with POLITICO.

Shapiro’s cash infusion is bankrolling what the Pennsylvania Democratic Party is calling the “biggest coordinated midterm effort” in the state’s history, according to a memo from Larry Hailsham Jr., the party’s executive director and a longtime Shapiro aide.

The “Rise Up Pennsylvania” initiative will continue to build out the party’s infrastructure, which already counts 27 field offices and nearly 100 full-time organizers across the state’s key battleground counties and districts. And it will include targeted outreach efforts to low-propensity, Black, Latino and Asian American voters.

The coordinated campaign is the latest step in the aggressive down-ticket push Shapiro is mounting in the midterms that will serve as a critical test of his coattails and of his political acumen ahead of a potential presidential run.

Shapiro, who is expected to sail to reelection, needs to show he can run up the score in his own race and down the ballot to burnish his battleground-state bona fides and springboard into a White House bid. And unified control in Harrisburg can help the governor deliver the kinds of liberal policy wins, like raising the minimum wage, that he’ll need to compete in what’s likely to be a crowded field of governors with their own achievements to tout.

“If Gov. Shapiro can have a good night in November on the down-ballot … it’s going to be a very strong proof point,” said Larry Ceisler, a Shapiro supporter and Philadelphia-based public affairs executive. “If you look at the other people being talked about as potentially running for president, nobody is really in a state like Pennsylvania and has this many competitive seats.”

Shapiro still faces a fight for his seat. A Quinnipiac Poll released this week showed the gubernatorial race tightening a bit, with Shapiro leading his GOP rival, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, by 13 percentage points, compared with 18 points in February. But the governor is a fundraising behemoth who has hauled in over $50 million so far this cycle and had more than 30 times as much cash on hand as his rival in their latest filings. He’s also readying to drown her out on the airwaves; Shapiro’s campaign has over $6 million in reservations, compared with Garrity’s $472,000, per tracker AdImpact. That’s allowing him to look past his own reelection fight.

Shapiro is looking to flex his political power as his would-be White House rivals ramp up their own midterm efforts. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker spent $10 million to help his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton, to win the Democratic primary for his state’s open Senate seat. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, fresh off primary wins in his state, is campaigning for Democrats in South Carolina, Georgia and Nevada. Several other potential contenders have waded into congressional primaries across the map — and posted some big wins. That includes Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) boosting state Rep. Chris Rabb to victory in a Philadelphia-based House race in which the governor intervened behind the scenes against the progressive.

Pennsylvania Democrats, in turn, are counting on the popular governor, who’s smashed state voting and fundraising records and has one of the highest gubernatorial approval ratings in the country, to juice turnout for the ticket. And they’re bullish about their chances after a series of off-cycle wins, voter-registration gains and their party’s strong turnout in the state’s May primary. Both Shapiro and Garrity were unopposed.

Shapiro started ramping up to the midterms last year, installing longtime allies atop the state party and seeding it with cash to begin building out its infrastructure. He helped recruit and clear fields for Democrats’ House challengers across the districts they’re angling to flip. He was particularly instrumental in boosting firefighter union chief Bob Brooks, a longtime ally, out of a crowded primary in the 7th District to take on vulnerable first-term Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. He’s also hosted and appeared at fundraisers for congressional candidates and state-level campaigns and committees and plans to do more.