Shapiro is popular with voters, not so much with fellow Dem officials
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Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is wildly popular with voters in his critical battleground state. But among some top Democrats there who know him personally, feelings are lukewarm — sometimes even resentful.
- Tim Alberta, a reporter for The Atlantic who recently profiled Shapiro, told us he "was really surprised by how unpopular he is with elected Democrats in Pennsylvania."
- "There are lots of people the governor counts as allies — people who raise money for him, support his reelection campaign, say all the right things publicly — who have serious beefs with him privately."
Why it matters: The behind-the-scenes ill will toward Shapiro, who just launched a multi-city book tour, could haunt the governor if he runs for president in 2028, as many expect.
The intrigue: Many Democratic elected officials and party leaders in Pennsylvania privately have fumed about Shapiro to Axios through the years, even as they've supported him publicly.
- Several have claimed that Shapiro has been willing to push aside allies to get ahead, which has created a slew of politicians quietly holding grudges.
- "He's always all about him," a Pennsylvania Democratic elected official told Axios in an interview. "When you first meet him, you have all these high hopes and see the aspiration and think you'll share it. But you kind of come away feeling either used or like a pawn."
- Another longtime Democratic lawmaker in Pennsylvania put it this way: "Someone once said to me that everyone knows Josh would knife his own lifelong best friend in the back if it got him one extra polling point. That is a widely held view in political circles in Pennsylvania."
What they're saying: "This is an irresponsible non-story searching for anonymous sources to make news when there is none," countered Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder.
- Bonder disputed the idea that Shapiro isn't a team player, pointing to him "helping win and maintain the state House majority, to raising millions of dollars and campaigning to protect the [state] Supreme Court, to putting his neck on the line for Democratic candidates for local office, to rebuilding and investing millions in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, to leading the fight to win four U.S. House seats this November."
Zoom in: Despite their frustration, many Pennsylvania Democrats clamor to campaign alongside Shapiro — a nod to his 60% approval rating among voters. Even critics acknowledge his long coattails have helped down-ballot Democrats.
- Shapiro also has cultivated relationships with key national Democrats, including donors and people in former President Obama's orbit.
But the acrimony within Shapiro's state party did appear to harm his chances of becoming the Democratic nominee for vice president in 2024, as then-Vice President Harris' aides heard complaints about him.
- "That became a major concern for Harris' team as they had those conversations with Democrats around the state," Alberta told Axios.
- One Democrat went public. Erin McClelland, the Democratic nominee for state treasurer in 2024, said on social media that Shapiro wasn't "secure enough to be second under a woman." (A Shapiro defender called the post offensive. Shapiro later declined to endorse McClelland, and she went on to lose the election for treasurer.)
- Shapiro has said he took himself out of consideration to be Harris' running mate.
- Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman is another Democrat who's gone public about his frosty relationship with Shapiro, saying he and the governor no longer speak. Fetterman wrote in his book, "Unfettered," that he believes Shapiro is overly driven by "political ambition."
McClelland and Fetterman are exceptions, however. Few Pennsylvania Democrats have spoken out with complaints partly because they're afraid of the political consequences of turning on the governor.
- Besides high approval ratings, Shapiro has a $30 million campaign war chest.
Whatever beefs Democratic officials have with Shapiro, he's on course to be well positioned for a run at the White House at a time when the party is desperate to win.
- That fact alone may discourage critics from speaking out, some Pennsylvania Democrats say. If Shapiro is reelected governor this year in the nation's biggest swing state, he'll have a strong case to make in a 2028 run for president.
- Even some who've criticized Shapiro's style as too sharp-elbowed think he'd make a good president.
Flashback: When asked about those sharp elbows, many Democrats point to Shapiro's history with his old boss, former Pennsylvania Democratic Rep. Joe Hoeffel.
- Shapiro cut his teeth in Washington as Hoeffel's chief of staff.
- Years later, Hoeffel was chair of the board of county commissioners in the Philadelphia suburbs, and Shapiro, who'd served in the state House, wanted the chair position. Democrats threw Hoeffel off their ticket and Shapiro replaced him.
- "You don't want to turn your back on him," Hoeffel said of Shapiro then. "Loyalty is not his strong suit."
- Today, Hoeffel says Shapiro would make a great president.
