Governor Josh Shapiro has focused his tenure on historic education investments, massive economic development projects, and public safety initiatives. Key accomplishments include securing billions in private investments like a $20 billion Amazon deal, significantly boosting public education funding by $900 million, and implementing automatic voter registration across the Commonwealth. [1, 2, 3]
Notable achievements of his administration include:
- Historic Education Funding: Secured major increases for public schools, special education, and infrastructure, alongside bringing universal free breakfast to public school students. He has also directed hundreds of millions into environmental and structural repairs for school facilities.
- Massive Economic Growth: Helped lock in over $35 billion in private-sector investments, including a historic $20 billion expansion by Amazon. He also established the Historically Disadvantaged Business Program to support minority-owned enterprises.
- Public Safety and Law Enforcement: Invested heavily in state and local police recruitment, resulting in a reported 12% drop in violent crime and a 42% decrease in fatal gun violence statewide. He also directed tens of millions in grants to local fire and EMS departments.
- Tax Relief and Cost Reduction: Enacted tax cuts through the Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit, putting up to $800 back into the pockets of nearly one million residents.
- Voter Access: Implemented automatic voter registration, resulting in a surge of hundreds of thousands of new voter registrations.
- Healthcare and Social Support: Ensured access to contraceptives is protected by strongly encouraging insurers to cover over-the-counter options and proactively stepped in to redirect state emergency funds to food banks and SNAP recipients during federal funding disputes.
- Environmental Cleanup: Drew down federal and state funding to plug over 350 abandoned and orphaned wells, surpassing the total capped in the prior decade combined.
Cook Political has rated this rate Solid D.