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Shapiro Has Big Fundraising Night

Rep. Josh ShapiroMontgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro has been hovering on the edge of the state’s political radar for quite awhile now.

Last year, he was named a “Rising Star” by NBC’s Chuck Todd and won one of our reader polls.

This year, Shapiro and his new colleague Val Arkoosh are running for re-election and the Montco pol is pulling in some serious cash.

Sources confirm to PoliticsPA that last week Shapiro raised over $500,000 in a single night of fundraising.

The Board of Commissioners Chairman already accumulated $1.04 million in 2014, according to year-end financial reports.

The significance of this haul, though, extends beyond this year. Montco is a fairly Democratic county and Shapiro is expected to win re-election easily.

Instead, the big question is what (if anything) will Shapiro do in 2016?

For awhile, it appeared he would challenge Joe Sestak for the 2016 Senate nomination but his interest appears to have cooled. As a result, party leaders have reached out to other Democrats to challenge Sestak, while some even seemed to volunteer.

Increasingly, though, the chatter has shifted to the 2016 Democratic primary for Attorney General. With Kathleen Kane’s political career in flux, that could be an attractive position. It would also be much easier to use his money in a state race like Attorney General rather than a federal Senate race.

Of course, no one knows at this time how strong or vulnerable Kane and Sestak will be in the future. With his warchest, however, Josh Shapiro has the luxury of waiting to see how things play out and the resources to take advantage of any opening.

19 Responses

  1. I am contacting you regarding advertising the political campaign on 900am WURD radio. I am you contact at the station to get your message out into the African American community.

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  2. I’m from western PA and know nothing about Josh Shapiro. But if Washington D.C. insider websites like Politico and Roll Call approve of a Democrat, that’s usually because said Democrat leans Wall Street on economic issues. That’s the “conventional Washington wisdom.”
    And that’s a red flag for Democrats, because those are always the kind of candidates that do not excite the majority of registered Democratic voters.

  3. Joe Saystax would be terrible and Napolean Complex Josh would be worse. If Josh cared about Montco he wouldn’t run for commissioner then leave the post for another office.

  4. The answer to “the big question” of what Shapiro will be doing in 2016 should be “running Montgomery County” since he is seeking re-election to an office that has a four year term. Since his aggressive fundraising belies this, Montco voters are left wondering WHY Josh is seeking election for an office with a term he has no intention of finishing out, and who will be his replacement? As was recently demonstrated when Leslie Richards stepped down, the Democratic bench is pretty thin once Shapiro leaves. Montco voters would do well to remember this when they go to the polls in November. You may be voting for Josh, but you won’t be getting him for the full term. If he runs for something in 2016, Montco won’t even have him for a year.

  5. this guy goes nowhere and I have no doubt his minions are committed, but competent is far more generous than it is realistic. Please see any comments section of a article mentioning Josh Shapiro for evidence of this. My favorite is definitely “The best for Democrats” all things being brutally relative for the Dem field in 2016.

  6. Shapiro – the boy who would be President. Napoleonic complex is an understatement. Other commenters only get it half right. His minions are committed and competent, at least politically, but honest? – Ha! Bipartisan? – Bigger HA! Observer comes closest – Slickness of Rendell, but with a lot more arrogance.

  7. Roger makes my point: Josh Shapiro and the MontCo Democrats are not economic fools and they have, not yet, departed radically from Republican governing principles. The problem with MontCo R was personnel who, like Bruce Castor, were both arrogant and less than astute economically.

  8. It is highly likely that Pennsylvania will go deep blue in 2016. Every state wide elected office (except some judicial offices AND Pat Toomey) is blue.

    I expect the Democrats to sweep MontCo in 2015 with the exception, maybe, of Risa Ferman. Kevin Steele is first DA and a highly competent ADA.

    Josh Shapiro not only has money, he has a highly competent network in MontCo, including, Sean Kilkenny, Matt Bradford, Dave Nasatir, Tim Briggs and others who are smart, honest, committed and, unlike the Republicans, organized and competent.

    Joe Sestak is not only arrogant but he does not have a fraction of the organization that Josh Shapiro does.

  9. You really have to laugh at what happened in Montgomery County. The Democrats, Shapiro and company, adopted all the economically conservative positions of the Republicans, turned the county around after GOP infighting ruined county government when it excluded their top vote-getter from ’07, Bruce Castor. So Shapiro gets to claim success by advancing Republican ideals and then turns that into a fundraising steamroller. The Ds there have come a long way. But the Rs helped a lot.

  10. David Diano gets sexually excited whenever anyone mentions someone that could possibly beat Sestak.

    EVERY SINGLE TIME!

  11. Ready for Shapiro — when he was a State Rep he treated staff like garbage and people laughed at him behind his back for having a Napolean complex. Josh Shapiro is a douche bag.

  12. Josh Shapiro has honorably served the people of Pennsylvania as a State Representative, Deputy Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and now as Chairman of the Montgomery County Commission. Throughout his service to our state Josh has forged bipartisanship, led a turnaround in one of Pennsylvania’s most populated counties, reduced overall debt and eliminated a large budget deficit. And he did all of this while making the lives of Pennsylvania’s hard working, middle class families better.

    Join the growing group of Pennsylvanians who want to elect Josh Shapiro to be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania.

    Like “READY FOR JOSH SHAPIRO” on Facebook at:
    https://www.facebook.com/PAvotersRise

  13. PA Politico-

    Rob Wells beat me to pointing out wrong you are. Josh could EASILY convert that money into a Senate race by returning it to donors and asking them to flip it to his new campaign.

    Also, Josh could run ads in the Philly market for his Montco campaign that just referred to his leadership/values/etc without mentioning the office beyond some small notice on the screen. So, he could introduce himself to Sestak’s home media market in a way that parlays to a Senate run. (And there’s nothing Sestak could do about it, because he isn’t spending a nickel on ads until he has to.)

    Josh would beat Sestak in Philly. Josh would slaughter Sestak in Montco as well. Sestak would win Delco, but not by much, since the party infrastructure is pretty weak these days, and Sestak’s been out of the game too long. His young supporters have learned their lesson about him and moved on to better jobs/employers/opportunities. Joe’s even worse on the stump now than he was last time. He’s got the same tired old stories that everyone has heard, and he still can’t deliver a punchline with the right cadence. He burned a lot of bridges. While he has worked to repair some, nobody trusts him, because it’s “all about Joe”.

  14. All those cash contributions come with Strings Attached. Josh will be working for the String Pullers, not the People. Just another corrupt politician. Maybe moreso, since he is a Fast Eddie disciple.

  15. actually, what these guys do is they give back the state money to people and then ask them to make a contribution to a Federal PAC and to be within the limits. So if Shapiro wanted to go for the Senate, he could recover much of his money and my guess is he could also donate his money to an independent expenditure that could support a federal campaign.

  16. @ David Diano —

    You do understand the difference between PA Campaign Finance rules and regulations and FEC rules, right? Only $2,000 ($1,000 Primary + $1,000 General) of his PA PAC money would be eligible for use in a Senate race. Furthermore, none of that money can even be used to explore a run for Senate.

    Approximately 70% of Sestak’s COH is eligible for the primary, which gives him a decided advantage in current COH.

  17. Josh has more cash on hand than Sestak, and can raise money faster. If Josh runs for Senate, he’ll blow away Sestak.

    Sestak is fundraising off the assumption he’s the only one in the race, so the money would be to fight Toomey. But, if Dems are offered another choice to take on Toomey, they’ll jump on it.

  18. Join the growing group of Pennsylvanians who want to elect Josh Shapiro to be the next United States Senator from Pennsylvania in 2016!!

    Politico calls Josh Shapiro “THE BEST BET FOR DEMOCRATS” – 12/29/14

    Roll Call Says Josh Shapiro is “A STRONG CONTENDER” – 12/4/14

    Like “READY FOR JOSH SHAPIRO” on Facebook at:
    https://www.facebook.com/PAvotersRise

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