Pennsylvania governor hopeful Josh Shapiro makes Centre County campaign stop
Less than a week after announcing his campaign for Pennsylvania governor, Democratic Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro brought his “Big Fights Bus Tour” to Centre County.
Greeted by a few dozen supporters, local politicians and candidates, Shapiro was introduced Monday at Teamsters Local 8 by Democratic Centre County Commissioners Michael Pipe and Mark Higgins, as well as teamsters president Jon Light.
“... We have to protect democracy. If Josh Shapiro is not taking the oath for governor ... we are going to be in serious trouble,” Pipe said.
As attorney general, Light said Shapiro has fought for workers and gone after companies that have taken advantage of their workers, like Centre County construction company Glenn O. Hawbaker.
“He’s the first attorney general I know of and I’ve heard of, actually going after companies who take advantage of working class people,” Light said.
During his speech, Shapiro touched on a number of topics: rebuilding the economy, accessing health care in rural Pennsylvania, broadband internet and supporting middle class workers. A group of Penn State students were in the crowd and heard Shapiro talk about how challenging student debt can be.
“We’re facing a serious challenge today with student debt holding people back. I’m 48 years old, I got four kids, including one in college; I’m still paying off my student loans. I know how serious of a challenge this is. We are going to make college more affordable and accessible,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro is the first Democratic to jump into the race to replace Gov. Tom Wolf, who cannot run for a third consecutive term. Republican candidates for governor so far include state senators, business leaders, a former congressman, a former federal prosecutor under Trump, and others.
Shapiro said part of being a governor is having a track record of bringing Democrats and Republicans together. He said his work thus far has proven he can do that and will continue to do so if elected governor.
“I’m going (to Harrisburg) to work together with folks and get things done. But if the Republicans in Harrisburg — including the leader who lives right around here — if they continue their ways to come after your voting rights, or come after your reproductive rights, or undermine our constitutional obligation in Pennsylvania to our planet, make it harder for workers to organize, well, hell, I won’t be afraid to use my veto pen,” Shapiro said.
In response to a question from the Centre Daily Times, he shared how he would ensure continued safe and secure elections as governor. He stressed that the 2020 election was safe, fair and secure, and saw both Republicans and Democrats elected to office.
As governor, he said he would want to sign a bill that would allow for mail-in ballots to be processed before Election Day, so the votes can be tallied as soon as the polls close.
“Rather than conducting this sham audit as Senator (Jake) Corman and others would like to do, what I’ve been doing is talking to Republican and Democratic county clerks and election officials and ask them, ‘what are the kinds of things that we can come together on in a bipartisan way to help our election system?’ and one example of that, and I would sign this bill as governor, is to allow pre-canvassing of our mail in ballots,” he said.
Monday marked a continuation of Shapiro’s “Big Fights Bus Tour” across the commonwealth, after visiting a dozen counties so far.
