Media Hit
Pennsylvania is Now the Bellwether on Democrats’ Future
Originally published at RealClearPennsylvania
The Keystone State was expected to be the bellwether on November 5th, and it didn’t disappoint. Not only did Donald Trump carry Pennsylvania by two points—a better showing than his razor-thin victory in 2016 – but the state also flipped a U.S. Senate seat and two House seats for Republicans. Yet now Pennsylvania will arguably play an even bigger bellwether role: showing whether Democrats will learn from this drubbing and deliver policies that make voters’ lives better.
Kamala Harris’s loss means Democrats must choose a new candidate for the next presidential election, and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro will likely be near the top of the list. His presidential ambitions are widely known within the state, and post-election, many national Democrats blame Harris for not selecting him as her running mate. Shapiro knows his path to the nomination: Win re-election in 2026 while building a bigger national profile for a presidential run in 2028.
But November 5th showed that Americans want something new from Democrats, which bears directly on Shapiro. Like Joe Biden before his election in 2020, Shapiro presented himself to voters as a moderate – someone who would work across the aisle to, in his own words, “get shit done.” But like Joe Biden, Shapiro shifted to the left the moment he took office, largely ignoring voters’ priorities.
Read more at RealClearPennsylvania