Josh Shapiro’s bus tour stops on the North Shore, a week before election

Only a week out from Tuesday’s general election, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro rallied in Pittsburgh on Tuesday evening with his running mate, state Rep. Austin Davis, as part of a get-out-the-vote bus tour across Pennsylvania.

Shapiro, who’s currently serving as state attorney general, spoke to a crowd of more than 150 supporters in a parking lot on the North Shore. He had traveled from previous stops in Erie, Clarion and Beaver counties the same day. Polls show Shapiro with a significant lead over his Republican opponent, state Sen. Doug Mastriano.

As Acrisure Stadium loomed in the background, Shapiro promised to protect and expand union rights, grant more resources to schools, invest in law enforcement, raise the state minimum wage to $15/hour and create tens of thousands of green energy jobs. 

“The only way we do that is if we have a governor who knows how to take on big fights and get some real things done,” Shapiro said. “I know something about taking on big fights.”

Pointing to the U.S. Steel Tower across the Allegheny River, with the UPMC logo emblazoned across the top, Shapiro referenced the 2019 deal he secured between major health care companies UPMC and Highmark.

“We’ve protected health care access for 1.9 million people here in Western Pennsylvania when we took on UPMC and made sure that people’s access was safe, and folks, I’m not done with the big fights,” he said. “I got another one in me, and that comes in seven days when we defeat Doug Mastriano in this campaign.”

Shapiro called Mastriano “unbelievably dangerous and extreme.”

“He has said his No. 1 priority isn’t cutting your costs or giving your kids a better school or making your community safer; he has said his No. 1 priority is to ban all abortion with no exception,” Shapiro said as boos erupted from the crowd.

“The next General Assembly is going to put a bill on the desk of the next governor to do just that,” Shapiro said. “He’ll sign it into law, I’ll veto it and trust the women of Pennsylvania to make decisions over their own lives, period.”

Nancy Mundy, of Verona, said she likes Shapiro’s stance on abortion and other issues.

“We’re fighting to save our democracy,” she said. “Just to get rid of Trumpism, MAGA has to die. … I have faith in everybody on this Democratic ticket.”

Her sister, Karen Lyons, of Braddock Hills, emphasized Shapiro’s experience as attorney general, calling him “perfect” for the role of governor.

“He’s seen it all,” Lyons said. “Life experience put him in a position where he’s going to go after it. … But that’s the strength that he holds that doesn’t come because you just decided to be a politician today.”

Lyons also said she planned to vote for Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman in the U.S. Senate race.

“He’s already in the office,” she said. “He already knows. When I think back to the days when people who were Republicans were like, ‘Oh, well, we need a businessman’ and look where that got us. We had a businessman who doesn’t know the Constitution.”

Preceding Shapiro’s remarks, Davis spoke about his commitment to the working class and Black and brown Pennsylvanians.

“The decisions we make each and every day in Harrisburg disproportionately affect working-class communities, Black and brown communities, and that’s who ought to be sitting at the table of progress making those big decisions here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” said Davis, a McKeesport native.

Davis also took a few jabs at Mastriano, and said Mastriano seeks to destroy the “union way of life.”

“We know here in the Steel City that Pittsburgh is a union town,” Davis said. “Harrisburg will always be a union town when Josh Shapiro and I are in charge as your next governor and lieutenant governor.”

Other speakers included Sam Hens-Greco and Morgan Overton, who lead the Allegheny County Democratic Committee; state Rep. Aerion Abney; Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald; Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Doyle; and state Rep. Summer Lee, the Democrat running to represent Pennsylvania’s 12th Congressional District.

Lee called on attendees to stay “fired up” and to encourage others to vote and make their voices heard.

“We are going to vote up and down the ballot, and on Nov. 9, we are going to wake up and we are going to feel encouraged knowing that we took one step further in protecting this country for all of us,” Lee said.

Shapiro and Davis will continue their bus tour with stops in Donora, Clearfield, State College, Harrisburg, Lancaster, the Lehigh Valley, Stroudsburg and more.

The greater Pittsburgh area will remain abuzz with visits from politicians, with Republican celebrity physician and U.S. Senate candidate Mehmet Oz scheduled to visit McCandless on Friday evening.

On Saturday, former President Barack Obama will join Fetterman in a rally. The event’s time and location have not yet been released.

Also on Saturday, former president Donald Trump will hold a rally in support of Mastriano and Oz at 7 p.m. at the Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe.