Josh Shapiro

Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American politician and lawyer serving since 2023 as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the attorney general of Pennsylvania from 2017 to 2023 and served on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners from 2012 to 2017. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, Shapiro was raised in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He 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 U.S. 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 was elected Pennsylvania attorney general in 2016, defeating Republican John Rafferty Jr., and was reelected in 2020. As attorney general, he released the findings of a statewide grand jury report that revealed the abuse of children by Catholic priests and coverup by church leaders; he also helped negotiate $1 billion for Pennsylvania as part of a national opioid settlement. In the 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election, Shapiro ran unopposed in the Democratic primary and defeated Republican nominee Doug Mastriano in the general election by a landslide. In April 2025, Shapiro and his family survived an arson attack at the governor's mansion, hours after holding a Passover Seder.