Gov. Shapiro Claims Voters Are Tired of ‘Extremism’ Despite Mamdani Victory

Democrat Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro sought to tie GOP losses in Tuesday’s election to President Donald Trump, saying voters are weary of the “chaos” he says Trump has sown.

“I think there’s two takeaways: One is that it was a clear message to Donald Trump that folks are tired of the chaos. They’re tired of the extremism,” Shapiro told ABC Action News.

The Pennsylvania governor is widely seen as a top Democrat contender for president in 2028 and was a finalist to be former Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate in last year’s presidential election.

Democrats not only notched major victories in New York City with the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor and New Jersey and Virginia with the election of Democrat governors, but in Shapiro’s home state of Pennsylvania. There, Democrats retained control of the state supreme court.

Shapiro’s comments may come as a bit of a surprise given that he had previously criticized one of the candidates who won on Tuesday, Mamdani for tolerating extremists and using the term “globalize the intifada.”

“You have to speak and act with moral clarity, and when supporters of yours say things that are blatantly antisemitic, you can’t leave room for that to just sit there,” Shapiro said in July in an interview with Jewish Insider about Mamdani.

Mamdani “also seemed to run a campaign where he left open far too much space for extremists to either use his words or for him to not condemn the words of extremists that said some blatantly antisemitic things,” Shapiro added in the July interview.

Mamdani has been criticized for his campaign ideas, including government-subsidized grocery stores, free buses, and a proposal to “shift the tax burden from overtaxed homeowners in the outer boroughs to more expensive homes in richer and whiter neighborhoods.”

Nevertheless, Mandani focused on affordability throughout his campaign, which ended in victory on Tuesday night. 

Reflecting on Tuesday’s blue wave, Shapiro claimedDemocrats’ effective campaigning on the affordability crisis propelled Democrats to victory. 

“The second storyline is they want people who are focused on meeting their needs, who wants to get stuff done for them,” Shapiro said. “Whether you’re talking about the Luzerne County Council County race, or the Bucks County DA’s race, or the Erie County executive race, or, of course, the governors’ races in Virginia, New Jersey, or the mayor’s race in New York. There was a through line throughout.”

“The candidates spoke about the issues that mattered in their communities. They had plans to lower costs,“ Shapiro continued. “They had plans to address unique needs in that community, in that state.”

“At the same time, voters went to the polls to say to Donald Trump, ‘We don’t like what you’re doing,’” Shapiro said. “And what you’re doing is making prices go up, bringing chaos into our communities and restricting our freedom and compromising our democracy.”

Shapiro’s office was not immediately available for comment.

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