Will Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro run for president if Joe Biden drops out?

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — With all the talk about whether President Joe Biden will drop out of the race for president, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's name has been frequently mentioned as a possible candidate.

When political pundits speculate about who might succeed Biden as a Democratic nominee for president, some names are obvious: Vice President Kamala Harris, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Other names are less obvious, like Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker and Shapiro.

"Governor Shapiro has built quite the reputation nationally in a very short period of time," Democratic political strategist Mike Mikus said. "And I think the very first thing is that he won Pennsylvania, which is typically a very close state politically, he won it by a wide margin in 2022."

At age 51, Shapiro also offers a generational change. But more importantly, he's a generally popular governor from the largest battleground state in this year's election.

Mikus sees another quality.

"He's one of those rare politicians where voters project their beliefs on him," he said. "That's why he's popular among Democrats who are progressive, Democrats who are moderate, some moderate Republicans. He's able to cross party lines while still being true to himself."

But would Shapiro run this year if given the chance? In his first interview as governor in January 2023, KDKA-TV put the question of a presidential run directly to him.

"If President Biden decided not to run for reelection in 2024, would Josh Shapiro be a candidate for president?," KDKA-TV's Jon Delano asked,

"No, and I have every expectation that President Biden will run again," Shapiro said.

"But if he doesn't, absolutely not?" Delano asked.

"The answer is no. I just asked the good people of Pennsylvania to be their governor," Shapiro said. "They honored me with this opportunity to have the job that I want and the job that I think I can do good things from to make people's lives better. God willing, I will have the health and the ability to continue to serve, and I'll serve all four years."

Serve all four years as governor sounds pretty definitive, and sources close to Shapiro said his position has not changed. So, despite the national speculation, it's highly unlikely that Shapiro would run for president this year.

As for 2028, that's another story for another day.