Josh Shapiro facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Josh Shapiro
Shapiro in 2023
48th Governor of Pennsylvania
Incumbent
Assumed office January 17, 2023
Lieutenant	Austin Davis
Preceded by	Tom Wolf
50th Attorney General of Pennsylvania
In office January 17, 2017 – January 17, 2023
Governor	Tom Wolf
Preceded by	Bruce Beemer
Succeeded by	Michelle Henry
Member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners
In office January 3, 2012 – January 17, 2017
Preceded by	Joe Hoeffel
Succeeded by	Kenneth Lawrence
Chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners
In office 2012–2016
Preceded by	Jim Matthews
Succeeded by	Val Arkoosh
Member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the 153rd district
In office January 4, 2005 – January 3, 2012
Preceded by	Ellen Bard
Succeeded by	Madeleine Dean
Personal details
Born	Joshua David Shapiro (1973-06-20) June 20, 1973 (age 51) Kansas City, Missouri, U.S.
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Lori Ferrara ​ (m. 1997)​
Children	4
Residence	Governor's Residence
Education	University of Rochester (BA) Georgetown University (JD)
Signature

Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American politician and attorney who has served as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 50th Pennsylvania attorney general from 2017 to 2023 and as a member of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 2012 to 2017.

Raised in Montgomery County, Shapiro studied political science at the University of Rochester and earned his Juris Doctor degree from Georgetown University. After that he worked as a senior adviser to Senator Robert Torricelli. Shapiro was elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in 2004, defeating former Republican U.S. representative Jon D. Fox. He represented the 153rd district from 2005 to 2012. Shapiro was elected to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 2011, marking the first time Republicans lost control of Montgomery County. Serving on the board from 2011 to 2017, he held the position of chairman, and in 2015 was also appointed chairman of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency by Governor Tom Wolf.

Shapiro ran for Pennsylvania attorney general in 2016, defeating Republican John Rafferty Jr., and was reelected in 2020.

In 2021, Shapiro announced his candidacy for governor of Pennsylvania in the 2022 election. He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican nominee Doug Mastriano in the general election by a 14.8 percent margin.

Early life and education

Shapiro was born on June 20, 1973, in Kansas City, Missouri, to a father serving in the Navy, and was raised in Dresher, a town in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He is the son of Steven Shapiro, a pediatrician. At a young age, Shapiro started a worldwide letter-writing program, known as Children for Avi, on behalf of Russian Jewish refuseniks. He attended high school at Akiba Hebrew Academy, now known as Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, and then located in Merion Station, Pennsylvania. Shapiro played basketball in high school and was one of the team's captains during his senior year.

He attended the University of Rochester, where he majored in political science and became the first freshman to win election as the student body president of the University of Rochester in 1992. He graduated magna cum laude in 1995. While working on Capitol Hill, he enrolled at the Georgetown University Law Center as an evening student and earned a Juris Doctor in 2002.

Early career

Capitol Hill

After graduating from Rochester, Shapiro moved to Washington, D.C. He started as legislative assistant to Senator Carl Levin, then served as a senior adviser to Representative Peter Deutsch, and then a senior advisor to Senator Robert Torricelli. While working for Torricelli, Shapiro planned foreign affairs tours in the Middle East and Asia, including a trip to North Korea.

From 1999 to 2003, he worked as Chief of Staff to Representative Joe Hoeffel, who represented parts of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Shapiro as a State Representative in 2009

In 2004, Shapiro ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in the 153rd district. He faced the Republican nominee, former Congressman Jon D. Fox. Shapiro trailed in polling during the beginning of the race, but knocked on 10,000 doors and ran a campaign centered around increasing education funding and better access to health care. He was elected by a margin of ten points over Fox. He was reelected in 2006, 2008, and 2010.

As a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, he built a reputation as a consensus builder, who was willing to work across the aisle on a bipartisan basis. Following the 2006 elections, Democrats controlled the Pennsylvania State House by one seat, but the party was unable to unite behind a candidate for Speaker of the House. Shapiro helped to broker a deal that resulted in the election of moderate Republican Dennis O'Brien as Speaker of the House. O'Brien subsequently named Shapiro as deputy speaker of the house.

While a state representative, Shapiro was one of the first public backers of then-Senator Barack Obama for president in 2008. This was in contrast with much of the Pennsylvania political establishment, which supported Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primary.

From 2006 through 2017, Shapiro also practiced corporate law at the firm Stradley, Ronon, Stevens, and Young in Philadelphia.

Montgomery County commissioner

Shapiro at a tree planting event in 2014

Shapiro won election to the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners in 2011; the election marked the first time in history that the Republican Party lost control of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. Shapiro became chairman of the board of commissioners, initially serving alongside Democrat Leslie Richards and Republican Bruce Castor.

Shapiro's commission duties centered around social services and administration. Castor, the only Republican member of the board during Shapiro's tenure, praised Shapiro's work, calling him "the best county commissioner I ever knew" and "very good at arriving at consensus." In 2016, Shapiro voted for an 11% tax increase, which was an average increase of $66 in property taxes. During his tenure, the board of commissioners implemented zero-based budgeting and shifted county pension investments from hedge funds to index funds. Democrats retained a majority on the board of commissioners in the 2015 election, as Shapiro and his running mate, Val Arkoosh, both won election.

In April 2015, Governor Tom Wolf named Shapiro the Chair of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.

Pennsylvania Attorney General

Shapiro at Gov. Tom Wolf's inauguration in 2019

Shapiro announced his candidacy for Pennsylvania Attorney General in January 2016. While he had practiced with Philadelphia's Stradley Ronon firm and chaired the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency, he had never served as a prosecutor. Shapiro campaigned on his promise to restore the office's integrity following Kathleen Kane's resignation and also promised to work to combat the gun violence. His campaign was supported by President Barack Obama, presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and businessman and former Mayor of New York City Michael Bloomberg, who was among the largest donors to Shapiro's campaign. He won the Democratic primary for attorney general in April 2016, defeating Stephen Zappala and John Morganelli with 47 percent of the vote. In November 2016, Shapiro narrowly defeated the Republican nominee, State Senator John Rafferty Jr., with 51.3 percent of the vote.

Shapiro was reelected in 2020, defeating Republican nominee Heather Heidelbaugh with 50.9% of the vote. He received 3,461,472 votes, the most of any candidate in Pennsylvania history, and outran Joe Biden in the concurrent presidential election.

Tenure

Shapiro with Senator Bob Casey Jr. in 2021

Shapiro in July 2021

Shapiro was one of 20 electors the Pennsylvania Democratic Party chose to vote in the Electoral College for Joe Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris in 2020 United States presidential election.

Shapiro and Governor Wolf at a press conference in June 2022

Shapiro joined several other state attorneys general in opposing President Donald Trump's travel ban. He also joined a lawsuit against ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit educational institute, that resulted in a $168 million settlement (with about $5 million of that going to Pennsylvania students). In 2018, he reached an agreement with federal officials to prevent the distribution of blueprints for 3D printed firearms.

Governor of Pennsylvania (2023–present)

Shapiro was sworn in on January 17, 2023, succeeding Governor Tom Wolf. He is the third Jewish governor in the history of Pennsylvania, after Milton Shapp (1971–1979) and Ed Rendell (2003–2011). He is also the state's first Generation X governor.

Shapiro explaining details of the Interstate 95 highway collapse to President Joe Biden, June 2023

Since taking office, Shapiro has focused on expanding Pennsylvania's workforce. The day after his inauguration, he signed an executive order to eliminate the four-year college degree requirement for 92 percent of state government jobs. On July 31, 2023, Shapiro signed an executive order that established the Commonwealth Workers Transformation Program (CWTP), which provides grants to ensure that companies and contractors have the skilled workforce required. As part of the program, as much as $400 million could be used for workforce training in Pennsylvania until 2028. Shapiro also eliminated the college education requirement for state police cadets in August 2023.

In his second month in office, Shapiro pledged to continue the pause on state-level executions Wolf had maintained. He also called on the Pennsylvania General Assembly to abolish the death penalty.

In March 2023, Shapiro proposed raising Pennsylvania's minimum wage from $7.25 per hour to $15 by 2024.

After the Interstate 95 highway collapse on June 11, 2023, Shapiro issued a "disaster emergency" proclamation, which immediately provided $7 million in state funds for reconstruction work. The proclamation also authorized the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, and the Pennsylvania State Police to use available resources to respond to the collapse. Under Shapiro's leadership, the collapsed portion of I-95 was rebuilt in less than two weeks. Shapiro received praise for his response to the collapse. President Joe Biden said that Shapiro did "one heck of a job" in responding to the collapse; Minority Leader Brian J. O'Neill of the Philadelphia City Council said, "you couldn't ask for more from the governor." A Quinnipiac University poll found that 74 percent of statewide voters approved of Shaprio's handling of the crisis.

During the drafting of Pennsylvania's state budget in the summer of 2023, Shapiro supported a Republican-led school choice proposal that would distribute $100 million to families for private school tuitions instead of sending their children to public schools. He later dropped his support to avoid a protracted budget delay after Democrats in the state House refused to support it.

On September 19, 2023, Shapiro announced Pennsylvania would enact automatic voter registration, effective immediately. The process will include voter registration when voting-eligible persons receive their driver's licenses, with the choice to opt out.

Personal life

Shapiro met his wife, Lori, in ninth grade as they both attended Akiba Hebrew Academy, now Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy, then in Merion Station. They dated in high school and reconnected after college while both were living in Washington, D.C. Shapiro proposed to her in Jerusalem in 1997. They married on May 25 of that year.

Shapiro and his wife have four children and reside in the Governor's Residence in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Shapiro is an observant Conservative Jew who keeps kosher.

Electoral history

See also

In Spanish: Josh Shapiro para niños

• List of Jewish American jurists