Days after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race, his deputy Kamala Harris has emerged as the front-runner to replace him as the Democratic candidate for the November 5 elections. Apart from President Biden himself, prominent party leaders are rallying behind her. If Harris wins the nomination, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is tipped to join her on the ticket.
Betting markets had given Shapiro odds of 7/4, while North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper was given odds of 3/1 and Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear was given odds of 5/1.
Who is Josh Shapiro?
1. Josh Shapiro was born on June 20, 1973, and grew up in Pennsylvania. His mother was a teacher and his father was a pediatrician. He studied political science at the University of Rochester and later earned a law degree from Georgetown University in Washington, DC. He now lives in Montgomery County with his wife, Lori, and their four children – three school-age sons and a daughter who attends the University of Pittsburgh.
2. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2004, serving the 153rd district for eight years. He then served as chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 2011 to 2017. In 2016, Shapiro was elected Pennsylvania Attorney General and was re-elected in 2020.
3. During his tenure as Attorney General, Josh Shapiro exposed a decades-long cover-up of child sexual abuse by the Catholic Church, identifying 301 predator priests and thousands of victims. He protected access to healthcare for nearly 2 million Pennsylvanians and defended reproductive rights and a woman’s right to choose. He also held more than 100 corrupt officials accountable for breaking the law, regardless of party affiliation. He worked with law enforcement to arrest thousands of drug dealers and remove thousands of illegal guns from the streets. He also supported LGBTQ+ marriage rights. During the 2020 presidential election, Shapiro protected the right to vote and defended Pennsylvania’s election results, winning dozens of court cases before and after Election Day.
4. In January 2021, Josh Shapiro began his second term as attorney general. During this time, he continued to fight the opioid crisis, arresting more than 8,000 drug dealers and holding pharmaceutical companies and their CEOs accountable for their role in the COVID-19 pandemic. He secured more than $328 million in relief for Pennsylvanians, including seniors, students, and workers who were exploited by private lenders and employers.
5. Josh Shapiro also worked on criminal justice reform, creating a database to track police misconduct. He brought activists and law enforcement together to make this happen. In 2022, he made history by receiving the most votes ever in a Pennsylvania governor’s race.
