There is a stark exception to this fall’s political activities by Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA). He has been a robust and smiling campaigner for just about all candidates with a “D” after their names running for elected office in Pennsylvania, whether they are seeking a local state representative’s seat, a seat in the U.S. Senate or a state government office, or to be president of the United States.
Last week, Shapiro spoke at a canvassing event in Harrisburg for Democrat Janelle Stelson’s congressional campaign, saying the former journalist is “the best person” for the job over sitting Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA).
Shapiro has been in the western parts of Pennsylvania to try boosting Democratic state Senate candidates, to take a majority there, and to build on the party’s narrow state House majority. And he has been everywhere with and without Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), trying to get them over the finish line in the presidential race.
Shapiro also can often be found with incumbent Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), a Scranton Democrat, or on MSNBC with Chris Hayes, encouraging people to support Casey, who is in a tough race for a fourth term against Republican David McCormick.
However, there is one Democrat he will not be stumping and canvassing for or endorsing this cycle: Erin McClelland, the Democrat from Allegheny County who is running against incumbent Republican Stacy Garrity for state treasurer.
Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Shapiro, said, “Gov. Shapiro is endorsing and campaigning for candidates up and down the ballot who have asked for his support and where he can make the biggest difference in electing candidates who will deliver for Pennsylvanians.”
Shapiro has plenty of reasons not to plant his flag with McClelland. Those reasons existed even before she went after him in a very public and suspect way this past July. On her campaign account on X, she said, “I want a VP pick that’s secure enough to be second under a woman, is content to be VP & won’t undermine the President to maneuver his own election & doesn’t sweep sexual harassment under the rug.”
McClelland posted that at the height of the ascension of Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee after President Joe Biden dropped his bid for reelection, exactly when Shapiro was emerging as the top candidate to be Harris’s running mate.
That moment may have been the tipping point for Shapiro, but he probably would not have endorsed her anyway. She has made a string of decisions throughout this cycle that do not line up with the Shapiro way. Earlier this year, a local news organization reported her campaign communications person was doing double duty as a United Press International reporter, a reporter who referenced the treasurer’s race in a story he wrote.
Several fellow Democrats also sent letters to the state attorney general and Allegheny County district attorney raising red flags about irregularities with her state campaign finance filings.
This is McClelland’s fifth time running for office in Pennsylvania. The first two were for congressional races, one in the 12th District, in which she lost to Republican Keith Rothfus, and one an abortive Democratic primary campaign in the 18th District.
She also was the first Democrat to file last year for a race for Allegheny County executive, but she dropped out a few weeks before the primary after she failed to submit signatures to the county election division.
In this current race, McClelland upended heavily endorsed Erie state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro in the Democratic primary. However, since that surprise win, her fundraising has been abysmal despite the party as a whole being flush with cash.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The latest finance reports have McClelland with a cash balance of just over $95,000. To date, she has already loaned her campaign over $100,000.
McClelland is facing Garrity, who narrowly won the statewide elected office four years ago over then-incumbent Treasurer Joe Torsella, a Democrat. It was a Republican victory that caught everyone by surprise, given Garrity had little money and name recognition and that Democrat Biden won the state in the same election.