Josh Shapiro launches ads in Pennsylvania governor’s race by touting Shabbat values

JTA — Josh Shapiro, the Pennsylvania legal professional normal who’s working for governor, launched his first TV adverts on broadcast stations statewide on Tuesday, and the very first thing he talked about is his affinity for the Jewish Sabbath.

“Whether or not my day begins right here in Bloomsburg, Uniontown, or wherever in Pennsylvania, I make it residence Friday evening for Sabbath dinner as a result of household and religion floor me,” Shapiro stated, because the digital camera zooms in on a pair of challahs beneath a fabric on the Shapiro household desk.

Pennsylvania is a swing state that narrowly went for Joe Biden within the 2020 presidential election. Democrats do effectively within the two main metropolitan facilities, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, however, to be able to win, should additionally attraction to conservative values within the state’s heart — the place Shapiro hopes his emphasis on household and religion will resonate.

The one-term legal professional normal is the one Democrat working for the nomination, whereas 9 Republicans are duking it out for his or her occasion’s nomination.

Shapiro, 48, in 2020 rose to prominence by resisting efforts by former US president Donald Trump and his Republican allies within the state to cease the presidential vote depend or reverse it. Trump, who received Pennsylvania in 2016, misplaced it in 2020, however mounted a courtroom battle over the vote depend.

Shapiro additionally joined at the least 40 lawsuits by Democratic attorneys normal in opposition to Trump’s administration insurance policies, most of the time successful. He led a 2018 investigation into little one abuse within the Roman Catholic Church in his state that led to main reforms.

Shapiro has by no means been shy about his Jewish roots; he attended a Jewish day faculty and so do his children. Within the advert that debuted Tuesday, he features a highschool picture of himself and his spouse, Lori (“my high-school sweetheart”), during which he’s sporting a Hebrew Coca-Cola T-shirt. The advert, entitled “Banana Break up,” ends with the Shapiros and their 4 youngsters having fun with ice cream on the parlor the place Josh and Lori had their first date.

Shapiro’s Jewish household has featured in his previous promotional materials. In a video he posted to YouTube after saying his gubernatorial run in December, he goes over favourite household photographs, and the primary is of his son being elbowed within the again by the late Jewish Supreme Courtroom justice, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, at a White Home Hanukkah occasion.