Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) spoke out against the rise of the Democratic Party’s left wing, giving his own pitch of a liberal patriotic party.
Shapiro, widely viewed as a leading contender for the Democrats’ 2028 presidential nominee, gave CNN host Dana Bash a patriotic-themed tour of Philadelphia in honor of the country’s 250th anniversary. After visibly gushing over the history of the city where the Declaration of Independence was signed 250 years ago, Shapiro shifted into pitching his image of a Democratic Party that was proud of its historical roots, implicitly targeting the ascendant left wing of the party.
“Well, I’m a proud, patriotic American. I think we live in the greatest country on the face of the Earth, and we have a lot of work to do to make sure that the promise of liberty that you and I talked about across the street is something that everyone can enjoy,” Shapiro said in response to a poll showing only 12% of Kamala Harris voters were “extremely proud” to be an American.
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He added some liberal caveats to this, saying the U.S. had to fix the healthcare system and confront economic challenges.
“So while I am proud to be a patriotic American, I’m proud to live in this country, I’m also mindful that we have work to do, and I don’t think that’s mutually exclusive. I think one of the things that the founders made clear is that we were going to be a nation that was a work in progress, and we have a lot of work to do,” Shapiro said.
The Pennsylvania Democrat took aim at the party’s left wing in denouncing “performative politics that just makes noise but doesn’t make anybody’s life better,” a comment he made clear was referring to this group when pressed on what he meant.
“I think the Congress of the United States has largely been about performative politics. And yeah, I think you’ve seen people largely on both extremes that engage in performative politics that might get some likes on Twitter, might, and I mean this respectfully, get your attention in the media, but doesn‘t actually make someone‘s life better,” he said.
Shapiro was asked about Darializa Avila Chevalier, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who won the Democratic nomination, who has drawn headlines for previously advocating for abolishing prisons and police and implementing open borders. Bash asked the governor how he felt as a Democrat having someone with her views in Congress.
“Look, her district voted for her, but I have profound differences from that particular candidate based on the citations that you read there. And she‘s not someone … who seemingly I would agree with on many things or that we share similar values. She ran on the Democratic ticket, I guess as a socialist; her voters in that district determined that she was the one they wanted representing her,” he said.
When pressed on the matter, he said the Democrats needed to “go through a battle about what we believe in and then come out unified in a way that we can take the fight to the other side and really deliver for the American people.”
