Gov. Josh Shapiro spoke to a nearly packed conference room of almost 400 people at the Penn Stater in State College Saturday morning ahead of this year’s midterm elections.
Shapiro, a Democrat, is running for reelection against Republican Stacy Garrity, who is the state treasurer. But Shapiro spent much of his speech criticizing President Donald Trump.
“Donald Trump has literally made everything cost more in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said. “Go visit and talk to some of our farmers here in Centre County. They’ll tell you how these tariffs not only made fertilizer cost 36% more for them, but how markets in Canada and Mexico have been shut down.”
Shapiro called on the audience to vote for him as governor in November so he can continue fighting against Trump’s policies, try to raise Pennsylvania’s minimum wage and build more housing.
Shapiro also called on Democrats to vote to flip the U.S. House.
Ray Bilger, a Democrat from Pleasant Gap, is running to unseat Republican U.S. Rep. Glenn “GT” Thompson in the 15th District. Bilger spoke about his qualifications ahead of Shapiro’s speech. Bilger served in the U.S. Air Force and worked as a senior intelligence analyst and senior foreign service specialist in several federal agencies.
“Never in America’s history has there been so great a need for those in Congress to address the critical issue of our nation’s cyber security,” Bilger said.
Several speakers at Saturday’s event said Democrats have a large window of opportunity this year with voters who are facing an affordability crisis at the pump, grocery stores and skyrocketing health insurance premiums.
“Voters around here know they didn’t vote for those higher prices, and they did not vote for this war,” said Conor Lamb, a former U.S. Rep. in Pennsylvania, referencing the current war in Iran.
Several speakers said Pennsylvania voters have the power to limit Trump’s power in office.
“Everyone in the country that pays attention to politics knows that we have the most contested, flippable congressional races in the United States of America, meaning it is up to us if Donald Trump becomes a lame duck president,” said Eugene DePasquale, the Chair of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party.
Shapiro’s visit to State College was part of a three-stop tour on Saturday. He was also scheduled to visit Lock Haven and Williamsport for meet and greets with local Democrats.
The next election in Pennsylvania is the primary on May 19. The general election is on November 3.
