Josh Shapiro

Josh Shapiro
48th Governor of Pennsylvania From: January 17, 2023 - present
Lieutenant	Austin Davis
Predecessor	Tom Wolf
Successor	Incumbent (no successor)
Attorney General of Pennsylvania From: January 17, 2017 – January 17, 2023
Governor	Tom Wolf
Predecessor	Bruce Beemer
Successor	Michelle Henry
Information
Party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Lori Shapiro
Religion	Jewish

Joshua David “Josh” Shapiro, born June 20, 1973 (age 53), is the current Governor of Pennsylvania, serving in the position since January 2023, and its former Attorney General, serving in that position since January 2017. He previously served on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and as a state representative from the 153rd district prior to that. Shapiro violated Pennsylvania rules in the 2020 election by allowing mass absentee ballots.

Shapiro is unusual among Democrats in that he supports school choice, including taxpayer-funded vouchers to pay for private schools. Teachers' unions, who are the backbone of the Democratic Party, are stridently opposed to school choice. Both Shapiro and his wife attended a private, religiously affiliated high school, the Akiba Hebrew Academy (now named the Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy), where they first met.

Shapiro is also tough on crime.

In the summer of 2023, "Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro Kills Program to Help Pregnant Women, Save Babies From Abortions,", he terminated a 30-year program that helped women in crisis pregnancies.

Religiously, Shapiro is Jewish, not Orthodox, but reportedly adheres to kosher guidelines. Shapiro took his oath of office as governor of Pennsylvania by swearing on three Hebrew Bibles.

Kamala Harris 2024 presidential campaign & classic antisemitism

In January 2026, new Kamala Harris controversies emerged regarding Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s experience during the 2024 Democratic vice-presidential vetting process. In his memoir, "Where We Keep the Light" (set for release in late January 2026), Shapiro accuses Kamala Harris’s vetting team of subjecting him to inquiries that utilized antisemitic tropes of "dual loyalty."

Antisemitic Inquiry. According to Shapiro, during his final interview with Harris's team, he was asked several questions he considered deeply offensive and rooted in classic antisemitic tropes: "Double Agent" Question: Shapiro accuses former White House counsel Dana Remus of asking him if he had ever acted as a "double agent" for the Israeli government. He was asked if he had ever communicated with an Israeli undercover agent. Shapiro responded incredulously, "If they were undercover, how the hell would I know?". Worse, when Shapiro objected to the line of questioning, he claims the team brushed it off as "standard procedure" and "just doing their job".

A renowned envoy slammed the Harris campaign as 'Classic antisemitism'.

Issues & misc.

Like most of his colleagues, Shapiro supports biological men competing in women's sports, and vowed to veto any bill prohibiting that. Shapiro may have recently broken the law by covering up the homicide of a Philadelphia woman who was seemingly murdered and had her cause of death changed to suicide. The suspected murderer has ties to Shapiro, and his family donated to him. Shapiro was the Democratic gubernatorial candidate for 2022, and defeated State Senator Doug Mastriano in the general election after Shapiro cowardly refused to debate Mastriano.

See also

• 2025 arson attack on Pennsylvania Governor's Residence