Shapiro Brings Campaign Tour to State College

Gov. Josh Shapiro brought his campaign bus tour to State College on Sunday evening, speaking alongside local Democrats nine days before Election Day.

Shapiro, who leads his Republican opponent, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, by more than 20 percentage points in every poll, is seeking his second term as the commonwealth’s chief executive. He launched a 10-day campaign tour that began Saturday night in Erie and will continue across Pennsylvania.

“While I’m proud of the work we’ve gotten done, the reality is there’s more I want to make happen, which is why I’m on this 10-day bus tour all across Pennsylvania to try and get people out to vote…,” Shapiro said at Sunday night’s event, which was hosted by the Penn State College Democrats.

The Democratic incumbent, who has been mentioned as a possible 2028 presidential candidate, highlighted his battles against the impacts of “the chaos and the cruelty and the corruption” of the Trump administration, including efforts to block two ICE detention centers in Pennsylvania and joining legal challenges to protect access to mifepristone and halt an executive order on mail voting.

He pointed to economic development gains that he said created 29,000 new jobs and brought nearly $50 million in private capital investment to Pennsylvania over the past three years, as well as new funding for education, clean energy advances and increased agricultural production.

Shapiro is using the campaign tour not only to bolster his own reelection bid, but also as an effort to rally support for downballot Democratic candidates as the party seeks its first trifecta in Harrisburg — control of the House, Senate and governorship — for the first time since 1992.

The first bill he expects to reach his desk if that happens, he said, will raise the state’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 per hour. He also plans to enshrine abortion rights in the Pennsylvania Constitution, make new investments in housing, infrastructure and higher education, and move forward long-stalled legislation allowing adults who were abused as children to bring otherwise time-barred litigation against their abusers.

“Let me tell you, when we have that trifecta, it’s not just about electing,” he said. “It’s about what they do when they have the power.”

Shapiro urged support for three local Democrats who will be on the ballot against Republican opponents and spoke on Sunday night: state Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, who is seeking reelection in the 82nd District; state Rep. Scott Conklin, D-Rush Township, who is running for another term in the 77th District; and Ray Bilger, of College Township, who is challenging U.S. Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard, in the 15th Congressional District.

“We all have a job to do, and our job right now is to vote like our future depends on it,” Takac said. “Because guess what? It does.”

Pushing for a Democratic majority in Congress as well, Shapiro criticized nine-term representative Thompson, particularly for supporting Trump’s new tariffs. He called on voters to “retire G.T. Thompson and put Ray Bilger in his place.”

“One of the things that I’ve learned in my experience is that in this chaos, we have immense opportunity if only we have the leadership in place to take advantage of it,” Bilger, an Air Force veteran and a retired national security and intelligence specialist, said. “Ladies and gentlemen, we have the power to put that leadership in place with the people who share the stage with me here this evening.”

Several other notable local Democrats spoke at Sunday’s rally, including Centre County party committee chair Margie Swoboda, county commissioners Amber Concepcion and Mark Higgins and State College Mayor Ezra Nanes.

“[Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis] show up for Penn State. They show up for State College. They show up for Centre County,” Nanes said. “They know the importance of this university to our community and to all of Pennsylvania. And their administration has supported investment in our downtown, making it more beautiful, more safe for pedestrians and bikes. And they’ve helped us to develop… a world-class trail network in Rothrock State Forest that is a cultural and community asset that benefits all of us and attracts tourism, which is good for our local businesses. And the governor has done all of this while standing up for our most fundamental rights and freedoms.”

Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. The last day to apply for a mail-in or civilian absentee ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 27.

For information on voting, polling places and returning mail ballots, visit the Centre County Office of Elections and Voter Registration website.