Early life and education

Shapiro is one of three children born to Judi Shapiro, a teacher, and Steven Shapiro, a pediatrician. The family lived in Missouri before moving to Montgomery county, Pennsylvania.

Josh Shapiro was raised within Conservative Judaism, and in a 2018 interview with The New York Times, he noted the importance of his religion, saying that “my faith and my family are central to my life.”
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After graduating from Akiba Hebrew Academy (later called Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy) in 1991, Shapiro attended the University of Rochester, in New York.

There he initially took premed courses. However, after struggling in organic chemistry during his freshman year, he shifted to political science and earned a B.A. in 1995. He later attended law school at Georgetown University, graduating in 2002.

Early political career

Shapiro entered politics early. While studying law in Washington, D.C., he worked as a governmental aid to various Democratic politicians, including U.S. Sen. Carl Levin. In 2004 Shapiro won his first election, a seat in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.

There he developed a reputation as a moderate, though he was liberal on social issues, notably supporting abortion rights. He was reelected three times, continuing to serve until 2012. Shapiro then became commissioner for Montgomery county (2012–17).

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During his time in that post, Shapiro balanced the county’s budget, which faced a $10 million deficit at the start of his tenure, and he assisted in issuing licenses for some of Pennsylvania’s first same-sex marriages.

Attorney general

In 2016 Josh Shapiro ran for attorney general and won a close election. After taking office the following year, he immediately backed an ongoing investigation into sexual abuse within the Roman Catholic Church. The resulting report (2018) alleged that church officials had engaged in a widespread decades-long cover-up to hide the abuse of more than 1,000 children by clergy.

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Shapiro also addressed the opioid epidemic, prosecuting thousands of drug dealers as well as pharmaceutical companies and CEOs who contributed to the crisis. In addition, he played a key role in a national lawsuit against four drug companies that, in 2021, resulted in a series of agreements amounting to $26 billion, of which $1 billion was made available to his state.

Such efforts raised Shapiro’s national profile, and he also gained attention for his opposition to a number of Republican Pres. Donald Trump’s policies. He successfully challenged a federal law that limited women’s access to free birth control under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

In addition, after the 2020 presidential election—which was won by Joe Biden, though Trump made unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud—Shapiro defeated several lawsuits that attempted to overturn the results in Pennsylvania, which Biden had narrowly won.

Governor

In 2021 Shapiro announced that he was running for governor of Pennsylvania, hoping to succeed Democrat Tom Wolf, who was term limited. On the campaign trail Shapiro pledged to fix the economy, to pass a gas-tax refund, to have 30 percent of Pennsylvania’s energy derived from renewable sources by 2030, and to put in place laws protecting voting rights.

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The sole Democratic candidate, he faced Doug Mastriano, who was endorsed by Trump, in the general election. The race was acrimonious, and Mastriano was accused of anti-Semitism. On November 8, 2022, Shapiro won a landslide victory, defeating Mastriano by nearly 15 points.

After taking office in 2023, Shapiro worked with the state’s politically divided legislature to pass budgets that increased spending on public education and infrastructure. He also issued various executive orders, including one for stricter administration ethics rules and another that eliminated the college-degree requirement for some 90 percent of government jobs.

In 2023 he attracted media attention for leading a quick repair of a collapsed overpass on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia. That year he also controversially backed a Republican proposal for school vouchers but later withdrew his support amid opposition from Democrats.

In October 2023 members of Hamas, a militant Palestinian nationalist movement, attacked Israel, which then declared a state of war and subsequently launched an assault on the Gaza Strip. Shapiro is a vocal supporter of Israel, though he has been critical of the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

After pro-Palestinian protests later sprang up on U.S. college campuses, Shapiro expressed criticism for actions he viewed as anti-Semitic.

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In July 2024 President Biden announced that he was dropping out of the 2024 presidential election. Shapiro subsequently endorsed Vice Pres. Kamala Harris as the Democratic nominee. As a popular governor in an important swing state, he was mentioned as a possible running mate.

However, Harris named Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her VP pick. Shapiro campaigned for the duo, but they were ultimately defeated by the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance.

Josh 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.

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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.

In the early morning of April 13, 2025, an arsonist set fire to the Governor’s Residence. At the time of the incident, Shapiro, his family, and another family—who had joined them the previous evening for a Passover Seder—were inside the building.

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All occupants were safely evacuated, although the southern portion of the residence sustained significant damage. Later that day, Cody Allen Balmer, a 38-year-old former mechanic from Penbrook, Pennsylvania, was arrested and charged with terrorism, attempted murder, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault.