Budget negotiations during his first year in office were temporarily delayed after a politically embarrassing incident. As the June 30 deadline neared, the governor, according to multiple accounts, privately negotiated a deal with state Senate Republicans to create a taxpayer-funded school voucher plan. Democrats privately said they were blindsided by the move and refused to give their support to the proposal.

Despite Shapiro’s efforts to assuage members of his party, the governor was forced to abandon the plan.

Shapiro scored a major win in this year’s budget, securing $500 million for a program to prepare sites for industrial or mixed-use developments. Still, the final deal did not include several other key issues Shapiro advocated for, including sustainable funding for public transit and the legalization of adult-use recreational marijuana.

“There were some things we didn’t get done this time,” Shapiro acknowledged during a news conference after signing the budget, “but in a productive democracy, this is how progress is made — by moving past partisan politics and having real conversations together.”

Has Josh Shapiro been involved in any controversies?

One of the few controversies of Shapiro’s tenure as governor came courtesy of one of his oldest allies, his now-former legislative liaison Mike Vereb.

Shapiro and Vereb, a Republican, are both from Montgomery County and served together in the state House. When Shapiro became attorney general, he brought Vereb on as a top advisor. And when Shapiro was elected governor, Vereb was one of the few Republicans to join his staff, this time in a key role as the governor’s emissary to the legislature.

But in September, Vereb resigned. His departure came shortly after reporters had learned a staffer had filed a complaint against him alleging harassment that had begun shortly after the start of the administration.

Spotlight PA learned that the administration had quietly paid out $295,000 to settle the complaint three weeks before Vereb’s abrupt resignation. Shapiro would not discuss the matter in any detail, with his administration saying only that it handled the matter in a professional and timely manner.

That settlement isn’t the only matter about which Shapiro has been notably tight-lipped. Across the board, Shapiro’s administration has been markedly more opaque than previous governors’.

As Shapiro prepared to take office, he had members of his transition team sign nondisclosure agreements and would not say who paid for inauguration events.

Unlike his predecessor, who released detailed daily schedules, Shapiro has declined to regularly release information about who he meets with behind the scenes. He also categorizes his daily calendars as “personal” papers, which exempts them from the state’s Right-To-Know Law.

The governor also loosened a notoriously tight gift ban for his employees while arguing it would still protect against gifts from lobbyists influencing his agenda.

However, Shapiro has still accepted free tickets, including to the Super Bowl, paid for by unknown donors to a little-known fund managed by Team PA, a Harrisburg-based nonprofit of which the governor is a co-chair.

He also listed tickets to sporting events, from long-time donors and lobbyists, as campaign contributions.

The administration has argued this is all in compliance with the state’s ethics and campaign finance laws, which are among the most lax in the country, and that the gift ban doesn’t apply to Team PA.

Shapiro, one of the country’s most prominent Jewish politicians, has also taken a central role in condemning antisemitism and what he sees as weak responses to it in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which killed 1,200 people.

“I am pro-the idea of a Jewish homeland, a Jewish state, and I will certainly do everything in my power to ensure that Israel is strong and Israel is fortified and will exist for generations,” Shapiro told the New York Times.

As protests against Israel’s war in Gaza — where the death toll now tops 39,000 — have escalated, Shapiro has argued some demonstrations have crossed a line into bigotry.

Amid rising protests against the war, the Shapiro administration updated the office’s code of conduct to bar “scandalous” conduct. An email accompanying the policy cited social media posts, boycotts, graffiti, and public confrontations as examples of potential “hate speech” that would not be tolerated.

He also backed a bipartisan bill that would strip state funding from any school that divests from Israel.

What’s next for Josh Shapiro?

Before Biden announced he was stepping down, Shapiro, who has made many appearances as a surrogate for and supporter of Biden, said he stood by the president.

Soon after Biden announced he would not accept the nomination for reelection and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor, Shapiro issued a statement giving her his full support.

“I’ve known Kamala Harris for nearly two decades — we’ve both been prosecutors, we’ve both stood up for the rule of law, we’ve both fought for the people and delivered results,” Shapiro said in a statement released by his campaign office.

“Kamala Harris is a patriot worthy of our support and she will continue the work of generations of Americans who came before us to perfect our union, protect our democracy, and advance real freedom. She has served the country honorably as Vice President and she is ready to be President.”

As of Monday morning, Shapiro was scheduled to appear at an afternoon news conference in Pittsburgh to announce the recipients of federal pollution reduction grants.

As attorney general, Shapiro inherited an investigation into sexual abuse by members of the Roman Catholic Church. His office released a report alleging more than 1,000 children were molested by more than 300 priests since the 1940s.

Vance has much less political experience. Before he was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2022, he authored “Hillbilly Elegy” and served four years as a Marine. He also attended Yale Law and worked as an attorney and as a venture capitalist.

Political strategist Samuel Chen of the Liddell Group said last week that Shapiro’s short political tenure could be a problem, though less pronounced than Vance’s.

“Shapiro’s resume is both a strength and a liability when it comes to the electoral side of the issue,” he said.

Chen, whose background includes working for Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, added that while Shapiro has had moments in the national spotlight, he is still not a household name. That’s a status Vance achieved when “Hillbilly Elegy” became a best-seller and the focus of widespread news coverage as many conservatives connected with its themes.

And voters dismayed by traditional politicians might be drawn to Vance’s lack of elected experience, Chen said.

Borick said a shorter resume might even help since the longer a politician serves, the more blemishes could arise.

As governor-elect, Shapiro received gifts from donors that have come under scrutiny. Chen cited courtside seats to the Philadelphia 76ers as an example.

Shapiro’s campaign called it a “political meeting.”

If Shapiro were to join Harris and win, this would not be the first time a Pennsylvania governor left office to serve in the federal government.

Following the Sept. 11 attacks, Gov. Tom Ridge joined President George W. Bush’s administration as the first secretary of Homeland Security.

If elected, Shapiro would become the highest-ranking Jewish politician in American history.

Chen said that could help bring in the votes of many Jewish people who felt disaffected by the Democratic party in relation to protests of the war in Israel and Gaza.

If Shapiro were to leave office before his term was up, Lt. Gov. Austin Davis would take the reins.

According to Pennsylvania’s line of succession, Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward, a Republican from Westmoreland County, would become lieutenant governor. That would be the first time the state’s second in command was not of the same party as the governor since Joe Scarnati, R-Jefferson, took over the role following the death of Catherine Baker Knoll in 2008.

Soon after Biden tweeted that he would not accept the Democratic Party’s nomination for a second term, Shapiro tweeted a tribute to the president.

“President Biden is a patriot who has served our country honorably in the Senate, as Vice President, and as one of the most consequential presidents in modern history,” the tweet reads, “President Biden has gotten an incredible amount done to move our country forward, defend our democracy, and protect real freedom. I am proud to work by his side and am grateful for his leadership and his unwavering commitment to delivering for Pennsylvania — the Commonwealth that raised him.”

Shapiro mentioned nothing about his own future.

Despite earlier reports that recreational cannabis legalization in Pennsylvania may have to wait until next year after being left out of the state budget, the spokeswoman of a pro-marijuana coalition said there’s still a window this coming fall for a bill to get through to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s desk.

“The pieces are aligned and teed up right now in a way that makes a fall session passage of adult use very likely,” said Brit Crampsie, spokeswoman for Responsible PA.

Crampsie said that although it was a bit of a setback with adult-use cannabis legalization being left out of the budget, there are still two active bills in both the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House – and there will be at least three weeks in September when lawmakers reconvene from the summer break in which they could pass either of the measures.

“The conversations that are being had now in the debates are not what we saw about medical marijuana, about even considering the idea. We’re debating the technical aspects: the type of stores, not should we do this at all,” Crampsie said. “It’s become very much a when and how. We’re so far past the ‘if’ conversation.”

That technical debate is possibly the biggest stumbling block, with one stalled proposal from Democratic Rep. Dan Frankel that the industry should be composed of only state-run dispensaries, the same as the Pennsylvania liquor industry.

That was a nonstarter politically with the Black Legislative Caucus, Crampsie said.

But, she noted, there are two other measures – Senate Bill 846, by Republican Sen. Dan Laughlin and a House proposal by Democratic Rep. Emily Kinkead and Republican Rep. Aaron Kaufer – that are still active as well.

“Pennsylvania is uniquely divided right now, but as of June, and for the first time ever, there are bipartisan and bicameral (marijuana legalization) bills in both chambers,” Crampsie said. “We have legislation sponsored by House Republican and House Dem, and Senate legislation by both parties, and a governor who is outspokenly supportive.”

She also believes there’s enough consensus that one of the two bills will go to Shapiro before the end of the year.

“I would say within a year the adult use market will be up and running in Pennsylvania. I feel very strongly about that. Every caucus is supportive. The governor is supportive,” Crampsie said. “We need recurring revenue. There’s always opposition to raising taxes, and there are major funding needs that are certainly not going away. This is one of the only ways that we can raise revenue.”