U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick plans to introduce a bipartisan bill as early as this week to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies after the prolonged, bitter shutdown battle this fall left the issue unresolved.
Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican, said on Wednesday the bill’s language is “pretty much buttoned up” and has the support of some moderate Republicans and some Democrats.
He said the members of the bill’s working group have been in touch with the White House as they try to get a compromise deal through Congress before healthcare premiums spike when the subsidies expire at the end of the year.
“We’re trying to get to 218 and to 60,” Fitzpatrick said in an interview Wednesday, referencing the minimum vote thresholds to pass the House and Senate. “Anything that’s not designed with that end goal in mind is a futile legislative exercise.”
But Fitzpatrick was candid about the uphill climb to get the needed votes in both chambers weeks after the issue was at the center of the longest government shutdown in history.
Some Republicans don’t want to extend the credits at all, while others want abortion restrictions included.Democrats, meanwhile, have argued for a clean extension of the existing program and opposed an income cap for the enhanced credit.
“We’re trying our best to navigate all this, to figure out how we can do something. You know, nobody’s going to love it, but hopefully enough people are OK with it,” he said.
So far, leadership has not engaged with Fitzpatrick on discussions over an ACA extension compromise, Fitzpatrick said. Republicans have not offered up a proposal, though Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.) has promised a vote in the coming weeks. House Democrats have offered a three-year clean extension of the existing tax credits, and are just four votes away from a discharge petition to force a vote, but no Republicans, including Fitzpatrick, have joined them.
But neither Democratic plan looks poised to get the votes needed, making it more of a messaging exercise for the party. And House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) is expected to release his own plan next week, Politico reported Thursday, but it’s unclear whether it will appeal to Democrats, whose support would be needed to pass in the Senate.
“On the right, they think the majority of the GOP conference does not like the premium tax credit structure, and I think the leadership on the left wants to use it as a political issue,” Fitzpatrick said.
That would mean the compromise bill’s only chance for a vote would be via a discharge petition,the tactic recently used to pass legislation to release the Jeffrey Epstein files after House leadership slow-walked the issue.
Fitzpatrick said he would back a discharge petition on the ACA bill but would not be the one to put it forward.
“I’ll support it,” Fitzpatrick said of an ACA discharge. “The question really is: Are 217 of my colleagues? Are they going to allow the perfect to be the enemy of the good? Are they willing to take 80% of something, or they’re going to get 100% of nothing? That’s really going to be the key, because, you know, so many people have so many ‘red lines.’”
Fitzpatrick said he is already committed to using a discharge petition to force legislation on sanctions against Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
What’s in the proposal?
Under the ACA, people who earn less than 400% of the federal poverty level — about $60,000 — are eligible for tax credits on a sliding scale, based on their income, to help offset the monthly cost of an insurance premium.
That tax credit is part of the law, and therefore not expiring. But what will expire is an expansion passed in 2021 when Congress increased financial assistance so that those buying coverage through an Obamacare marketplace do not pay more than 8.5% of their income.
Fitzpatrick’s proposal, awaiting legislative counsel review, would provide a two-year extension of the expiring ACA subsidies, with a cap on those enhanced credits for earners who make 700% of the federal poverty level, about $225,000 for a family of four. Currently there is no income cap on the enhanced credit.
The bill would also expand health savings accounts and crack down on pharmacy benefit managers.
And to appease Republicans concerned about fraud in the program,Fitzpatrick’s bill would implement a $5 monthly fee for low-income enrollees, intended to prompt them to actively confirm their eligibility. There’s an option, requested by Democrats who oppose such a fee, to pay it in a one-time $60 sum to avoid losing coverage.
“This is all like, give one to the left, give one to the right,” Fitzpatrick said.
Not included in the bill are restrictions on abortion, something Fitzpatrick’s Republican colleagues had pushed for.
“We kept that out. I don’t think it has any place in this bill,” Fitzpatrick said. “It would be a death knell to a lot of my colleagues on the left … and I don’t think abortion should be an issue here. This is about lowering healthcare costs for people who really need the assistance.”
Staff writer Sarah Gantz contributed to this article.
Eric Stern drove out to Erie last January and got a slice of pizza with Christina Vogel at Donato’s, the downtown shop she has owned for nine years.
The small-business owner and political novice was interested in running for county executive against a vulnerable Republican incumbent. Stern, a longtime Democratic political operative, was part of a newly founded firm looking for candidates to help flip Republican-held seats.
“It all started with trying to find candidates who were, frankly, better messengers for the values we had and the things we cared about,” Stern said. “She was someone who understood the urgency of this moment as a small-business owner and mom but just as critically was not part of this broken system that had Democrats losing in the past.”
FIGHT is working with Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti in Northeast Pennsylvania and firefighter Bob Brooks in the Lehigh Valley. U.S. Rep Rob Bresnahan and U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, the freshman Republicans who represent those areas, each won by about a percentage point in 2024, making them two of the most vulnerable incumbents in next year’s elections.
This past year FIGHT’s six-person teamhelped Zohran Mamdani win the New York mayoral race, the buzziest contest of the cycle.The Philadelphia-based agency had a hand in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court slate’s retention, county executive wins in Lehigh and Erie, and two successful Democratic judicial campaigns in the state.
The firm was cofounded by Rebecca Katz, a Central High graduate who lives in New York; Philadelphia ad-maker Tommy McDonald; and Julian Mulvey, an architect of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 presidential campaign.
“New York isn’t Pennsylvania and Pennsylvania isn’t New York,” Katz said of lessons learned from Mamdani’s win, also noting primaries and generals are extremely different. “But there’s a universal desire for authentic candidates laser-focused on the affordability crisis.”
The strategists started the firm in January 2025 after Democrats suffered across-the-board lossesin 2024, a year she helped Sen. Ruben Gallego defy that trend and win an open seat in Arizona.
Stern, a Pittsburgh native and resident, and McDonald both quit their jobs to sign on with the agency.
Their most basic strategy is creating authentic campaigns that reflect the communities the candidates are running in, clear economic messaging, and trying different things across media platforms to win back working-class voters, Katz said.
“We try to think about what makes an ad pop, what makes people look up from their phone, or, if they’re on their phone, what makes them stay there,” Katz said. “It can’t look like everything else on TV.”
Tommy McDonald (left), and Eric Stern (right), are longtime Democratic media consultants now with FIGHT, a Philly-based agency working on two key Congressional races in Pennsylvania in 2026.
‘A new road map’
In the November election, standing out meant ads about the state Supreme Court race that featured Pennsylvanians talking directly to the camera about how they felt their rights had been protectedby the three justices on the ballot, who were all first elected as Democrats. Sixteen Pennsylvania counties that Vice President Kamala Harris lost wound up voting to retain the judges in the most expensive judicial contest in state history.
The victory provided a blueprint for Gov. Josh Shapiro and other Democrats running in Pennsylvania in 2026, said McDonald, who made the ads for the retention race.
“These are the typical working-class voters that Democrats are bleeding,” McDonald said. “It’s Beaver County. It’s where the New York Times visits diners. It showed us there’s a new road map for how to get persuadable voters in Pennsylvania. We know where they are now.”
Stern, Katz, and McDonald all worked on Fetterman’s 2022 campaign, a race that included the unprecedented challenge of navigating a candidate’s stroke days before the primary and running a general election campaign as he recovered.
They wound up winning awards for the campaign, which featured bright yellow and black branding and creative trolling of Republican nominee Mehmet Oz’s New Jersey ties. McDonald had the idea to fly a banner plane along the Jersey shoreline: “HEY DR. OZ, WELCOME HOME TO NJ! ♥ JOHN,” it read.
They called that July, which also included Jersey Shore cast member Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi making a surprise cameo, “New Jersey Summer.”
“We all learned politics here,” McDonald said of his home state. “The idea is to try to do things differently, redefine Democratic campaigns.”
This year,political headwinds certainly helped Democrats, but hyperlocal messaging did, too, the strategists argue.
Stern worked with Vogel’s campaign in Erie to create ads that looked like a pizzeria’s commercials, to stand out from the cookie-cutter format.
”In Erie County, we know good things start with the right ingredients,” the ad says as a hand scatters toppings atop a pie.
Another ad showed Republicans and self-proclaimed three-time Donald Trump voters on-camera saying they were supporting Vogel over the incumbent, Republican Brenton Davis. A Democrat cannot win in the county without some independent and Republican support.
“They were all people I met on the campaign trail,” Vogel said of the ad. “We really focused on what matters most with affordability, how stretched thin people are across the U.S., and just focused relentlessly on the same message and reminding people why voting matters.”
And in Lehigh County, a slightly bluer but still purple region, Stern worked with State Rep. Josh Siegel’s campaign for county executive. That was more of an offensive against Republican Roger MacLean, a former Allentown police chief, whom ads described as a “grifter and a disgrace,” highlighting his multiple beach houses amid an affordability crisis.
“We came up with an ad strategy that basically determined the most important thing was to beat the crap out of this guy,” Stern said.
“I think Democrats have pulled their punches for way too long,” he added. “There’s a difference between fighting dirty and fighting back, and we have to be in a position where we’re willing to say, ‘We’re here to fight.’”
Siegel, 32, soon to become the youngest county executive in Pennsylvania history, credited the agency with urging him to be specific in his pitch to voters.
“For me, the problem with the way we communicate as Democrats is part of the professional consultant class has created this art form of saying a lot and saying nothing,” he said. “I think people have a particularly adept bulls— detector and they are tired of what is just the most inoffensive, poll-tested, style-over-substance speak we’ve perfected.”
As they look to next year, Stern thinks anti-corruption will be the key issue in the race against Bresnahan in the Northeast. Bresnahan has faced criticism for stock trading while in Congress. Cognetti, his opponent, has been the mayor since 2020, when she won on an anti-corruption platform.
While affordability runs across races, Stern said campaigns cannot make the mistake of being too general in their messaging. “There’s no one right message that cuts across all these districts,” he said.
“Too many folks are running the same ads or calling the same plays they would have a decade ago. We are in a different world. Things have totally changed in a million different ways.”
WASHINGTON — Ahead of a morning Budget Committee meeting, U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle gathered his senior advisers in a brightly lit conference room just off the Capitol to settle on a simple strategy.
“Let’s keep the main thing the main thing,” he said. “Fifteen million Americans are gonna lose their healthcare because Republicans care more about tax breaks for billionaires. It’s accurate. You can describe it in a sentence.”
Boyle, a six-term lawmaker, is the most veteran of Pennsylvania’s eight Democrats in Washington. He has been the ranking member of the House Budget Committee since 2023, meaning he is the top Democrat playing defense as the Republican-controlled Congress ushers through GOP spending priorities. It can be a futile exercise in shouting into a void — until the yelling starts to echo outside.
“He’s one of our best messengers who appropriately comes across as both strong and authentic at the same period of time,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) said in an interview late last month.
Jeffries credited Boyle with homing inon a key statistic: Taken together, Trump’s reconciliation bill andthe expiration ofAffordable Care Act tax credits represent the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.
“That one observation became core to our arguments in pushing back against that toxic piece of legislation, and it’s also one of the reasons I believe that the law is so deeply unpopular amongst the American people,” Jeffries said.
Democrats have been recently on a roller coaster — securing big wins in the November election and then splitting over how long to withstand the government shutdown, with eight senators ultimately crossing the aisle to end the impasse. But Boyle’s messaging war is ongoing, and he thinks it is his party’s best bet for winning key midterm races in his home state, where Democrats are targeting four Republican-held seats in swing areas.
If Democrats reclaim Congress in next year’s election, Boyle would shift from ranking member to chair of the powerful Budget Committee — becoming the first Pennsylvanian to lead it since Philadelphian Bill Gray, a Democratwho chaired it from 1985 to 1989. It would be another resumé builder for the 48-year-old lawmaker whose role in Washington keeps growing and who has not ruled out a potential Senate run in 2028, when Democratic Sen. John Fetterman’s seat would be up.
“I get asked a lot: How do you keep this message going for the next year?” Boyle said in an interview in his Washington office. “Well, we started this five months ago, and actually more people know about it today than over the summer. Every single day, continuing to talk about healthcare, continuing a broader conversation about affordability, is absolutely what we have to do.”
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle (center) meets in his Capitol Hill office with Phillip Swagel (right), director of the Congressional Budget Office, following Swagel’s testimony before House Committee on the Budget last month. As Budget’s ranking member, Boyle has been central in shaping Democratic messaging around Republican policies.
‘Scrappy Irish Catholic boys from Olney’
Boyle, who lives in Somerton with his wife and 11-year-old daughter, is an affable, earnest lawmaker in a role that is unapologetically wonky — and high-profile, especially lately.
From Oct. 1 through the end of November — a period including the shutdown — Boyle popped up on TV news more than two dozen times, by his office’s count.
His political beginnings were far less polished. In 2014, Boyle shocked Philadelphia’s political establishment by winning the Democratic primary over a field that included former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Margolies, scion of a powerful political family. Then a 37-year-old state representative, Boyle ran as a blue-collar, antiestablishment pragmatist from Northeast Philly. His ads cast his opponents as out of touch, and he leaned hard on his family’s story: his father, an Irish immigrant, worked at an Acme warehouse and later as a SEPTA janitor; his mother was a school crossing guard. Boyle still keeps his dad’s SEPTA cap on a bookshelf in his Washington office.
That same year, his brother Kevin won a seat in the state House, prompting Philadelphia Magazine to profile the “scrappy Irish Catholic boys from Olney” who were reshaping the party.
A decade later, Democrats are still striving to win back blue-collar voters. Boyle, meanwhile, has traded some of his insurgent edge for the stature of a Hill veteran.As Philadelphia elects a replacement for retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans next year, Boyle will be a key ally for the new lawmaker, and a coveted endorsement during the election, though he has said he does not plan to weigh in. He has been in the thick of some of the year’s biggest fights — leading Democrats through a 12-hour reconciliation markup, testifying at a 1 a.m. Rules Committee hearing, and grinding through an overnight Ways and Means marathon.
His younger brother has had a far more tumultuous path. Kevin lost his state House seatlast year amid long-running mental health struggles.
Boyle declined to discuss the situation beyond saying: “The last five years — almost exactly five years — have been very challenging. And I’ll just leave it at that.”
U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle (left) (D., Philadelphia) and Jodey Arrington (right) (R., Texas) question Phillip Swagel (back to camera), director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, during a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025. Arrington chairs the House Budget Committee, while Boyle is the panel’s top Democrat.
In line for the gavel
Before that late November hearing, Boyle had already reached out to fellow Democrats on the committee: Talk about healthcare, he urged them. Talk about affordability. Talk about it ad nauseam.
He sat at the dais across from a portrait of Gray in an ornate hearing room, surrounded by paintings of former budget chairs, and delivered his opening remarks.
“The president has stopped calling it the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill.’ He’s stopped talking about the bill altogether,” Boyle said. “… Because it’s not just that healthcare’s become unaffordable in America. It is beef, it is coffee, it’s electricity, almost every staple in the average consumer basket.”
The director of theCongressional Budget Office, Phillip Swagel, was called before the committee that day and fielded questions from both sides. Democrats wanted to know Swagel’s projections on how Trump’s policies would affect everything from the national debt to the price of Thanksgiving dinners, eager for sound bites to send to constituents back home and to pressure Republicans on the healthcare debate.
Republicans were pushing Swagel for an audit, seekingmore transparency on how the nonpartisan agency comes to its projections.
“We need to be able to cut through the politics and the partisanship and figure out where you and your team can do a better job,” said U.S. Rep. Jodey Arrington,the Texas Republican who chairs the committee.
Boyle, whose office uses CBO projections to compile and distribute national and district-level data to Democrats, said he is open to an audit, if performed responsibly and not as a means to “discredit” the agency over numbers Republicans don’t like.
U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, a Democrat from Ohio, brings visual aids to a hearing of the House Committee on the Budget on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
Throughout the three-hour hearing, Boyle would sidebar with Arrington, who is retiring next year. The Philly Democrat and the West Texas conservative make an unlikely pair, but the two have bonded across many late-night sessions over having younger children and their college football fanaticism — Boyle for his alma mater, Notre Dame, Arrington for Texas Tech.
“He’s a very good communicator because he’s a really smart and thoughtful guy,” Arrington said. “I always can appreciate, whether I agree or not, with a good communicator. He’s authentic in what he believes and he’ll even say, ‘I grant you it’s not perfect,’ or ‘You make a good point.’”
The midterms will dictate not just the party that controls Congress but also which ideological track the Budget Committee takes. If Democrats win, and Boyle takes the gavel, he plans to put more scrutiny on the administration and aim to regain some of Congress’ control over purse strings that Republicans have ceded to Trump.
Another Pennsylvanian, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, a Republican who represents Lancaster, has announced he is running to be the top Republican on the committee following Arrington’s retirement. That means regardless of party control, two Pennsylvanians will likely be at the helm of one of the most powerful committees in Congress. Smucker, a fiscal conservative running with Arrington’s backing, said in an interview he would focus on rising national debt and getting a budget resolution adopted. He was a key negotiator for Republicans during reconciliation, helping to get conservative House Freedom Caucus members on board.
Smucker called Boyle someone who is “serious about the budget process, and wants to make sure that it functions.”
“He genuinely cares about strengthening Congress as an institution,” Smucker added.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle is interviewed by Charles Hilu (left), a reporter with the Dispatch, as he moves between office buildings on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
The road ahead
The longer Boyle stays in the House, in a safe Democratic seat, the harder it is to think about walking away.
In September, Jeffries appointed him the lead Democrat for the congressional delegation to the NATO Parliamentary Assembly. For Boyle, a history lover who has biographies of George Washington on his office coffee table, it’s an exciting opportunity to represent the country internationally as Trump continues to criticize the historic alliance. Boyle would become the leader of the parliamentary assembly delegation if Democrats take control of the House, just as he would take the gavel in the Budget Committee. Past committee chairs include former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.), former Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich.
“Some really high-quality, high-caliber people have done that over the last 40 years. So that’s what I’m looking forward to in the near term,” Boyle said. “After that, come 2028, and beyond, we’ll deal with that then. But it is interesting, like the longer you’re here, and if you move up the ranks, then actually it does make it more difficult to leave.”
A painting of former U.S. Rep. William H. Gray III hangs in the hearing room of the House Committee on the Budget on Capitol Hill. It’s been 40 years since a Philadelphia lawmaker led a House committee. A photo of U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle with former President Barack Obama on Air Force One hangs in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C.
But Boyle has not been shy about airing frustrations with Fetterman, whose term is up in 2028, sparking speculation Boyle could have an interest in a run against him.
Boyle said he avoided criticizing Fetterman until this spring, when the senator’s positions started to directly conflict with the party messaging he was pushing out.
“As I was doing TV opportunity after TV opportunity, what I increasingly found was that the clip they would show before I would be asked the question wouldn’t be a clip of what Donald Trump had said; it would be a clip of what my state’s Democratic senator had said,” Boyle said. “And I obviously would have to combat it.”
Fetterman has embraced an independent streak as a purple-state senator, often willing to work with the GOP. While pleasing to voters eager to see compromise and bipartisanship in a tenuous moment in Washington, it has also alienated some progressives.
Boyle said when it comes to the Senate, “I don’t rule anything in and I don’t rule anything out.”
If he were to run, a challenge could be building his statewide profile. He is still relatively unknown outside Philadelphia, though he has proven to be a prolific fundraiser. Today’s politics also tend to elevate showmen and outsiders, while Boyle has the more traditional cadence of an establishment politician — disciplined, polished, and most compelling when he speaks off-script.
Some local Philadelphia Democrats have criticized Boyle’s voting record on immigration, arguing it has not reflected the interests of the Latino community he represents in his majority-minority district. Boyle voted for the bipartisan Laken Riley Act, which requires the Department of Homeland Security to detain noncitizens who are arrested or charged with certain crimes, often forgoing due process. He was one of 46Democrats in the House along with 12 in the Senate, including Fetterman, to support the GOP-led bill.
“I have the same criticism as I do of Josh Shapiro: I wish he would take a stronger stance on immigration,” said State Rep. Danilo Burgos, who represents North Philadelphia. At the same time, Burgos credited Boyle as being a “good partner in our community” who always returns phone calls and texts.
For now, Boyle keeps an extremely busy schedule. The day of the budget hearing, his schedule stretched over 15 hours. He hustled from a meeting with Social Security and Medicaid experts to a floor vote to release the Jeffrey Epstein files.
Back in his office, where Eagles throw blankets, Phillies pennants, and a painting of Donegal, Ireland, his father’s home county, decorate the space, he sat down for his final meeting of the day.
Gwen Mills, the international president of UNITE HERE,a labor union that represents hospitality workers, wanted advice on how to translate Democrats’ work in Washington to members frustrated with both parties.
“Talk about affordability and how Republicans are making it worse — with the so-called beautiful bill,” Boyle suggested, running through some numbers and data before offering up a simpler sound bite:
“It boils down to life in America is just too damn expensive right now.”
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle checks his phone before leaving his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025.
It’s shaping up to be a tree-mendous year for anyone planning to bring home a real Christmas tree, according to industry experts tracking supply and prices.
“It’s probably the best supply of real trees in at least a decade,” said Marsha Gray, president of the Real Christmas Tree Board, a research and promotional group.
A national survey of tree farmers — including many in Pennsylvania — found that prices are expected to hold steady or even dip, thanks to an unusually strong supply. The survey, conducted in August, polled wholesale growers responsible for roughly two-thirds of all Christmas trees sold in the United States. A hearty 84% said they don’t plan to raise prices, with some even expecting to trim them.
Pennsylvania alone has more than 1,400 tree farms covering over 31,000 acres, according to state statistics.
Still, most trees sold in the Northeast come from Canada, and those evergreens remain exempt from tariffs, which has also helped keep costs down this year.
For artificial tree makers, meanwhile, the outlook is less merry and bright. Nearly all artificial trees are manufactured overseas, particularly in China, and have been hit with tariffs that are pushing prices upward. An artificial tree seller in California told NPR he anticipates a 10-15% price hike for consumers due to customs costs, even though manufacturing expenses have stayed steady.
Growing Christmas trees is a long-haul endeavor — it takes about 10 years for a tree to reach full size. That means today’s growers have to guess what demand might look like in 2035 while tending the evergreens that will be ready in 2029 and 2030. Their work involves pruning and pest management — the parts they can control — as well as coping with unpredictable challenges like climate shifts and surprise deep freezes.
Drought mostly affects younger saplings and typically spares mature trees, so even though 2025 has been dry in many regions, that hasn’t been a factor on the firs for sale, Gray said.
Gray said growers saw this abundant year coming: “It’s a multiyear process, so we can see what’s coming up and this is the story of the season — excellent supply.”
In recent years, headlines highlighted shortages. Gray notes there were always enough trees to go around, but during lower-supply years, shoppers might have found that the most convenient lot sold out early or that cut-your-own farms wrapped up the season weeks before Christmas.
“It does go in waves. We have little peaks and valleys,” she said. “And we’re in a peak right now.”
U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan was in her Washington office when she saw attacks directed at her and other military veteran members of Congress from President Donald Trump, days after they urged members of the military and intelligence community to “refuse illegal orders.”
Trump called the Democrats “traitors” in a Thursday post on Truth Social and, in a second post, accused them of sedition that he said is “punishable by DEATH.”
Houlahan, a Chester County Democrat and an Air Force veteran, was one of six Democratic members of Congress who released a video Tuesday contending that Trump’s administration is “pitting” service members and intelligence professionalsagainst American citizens and urging them not to “give up the ship.”
All six lawmakers are either veterans or members of the intelligence community.
“The idea that the most powerful man on the planet, who wields the power of the United States military and should be emblematic of all the things we value in this republic, would call for the death and murder of six duly elected members of the House of Representatives and the Senate — I’m speechless and I’m devastated,” Houlahan told The Inquirer on Thursday afternoon.
Houlahansaid she had anticipated there might be a response from the president after Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser, spent much of Wednesday railing against the lawmakers in the video. But Trump’s comments went beyond anything Houlahan imagined even from a president known for extreme and sometimes violent rhetoric.
“I’ve been struggling with the right words for this,” she said. “‘I weep for our nation’ would be an understatement.”
U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Navy veteran who was also featured in the video, called Thursday “a dark day in America” in an interview with The Inquirer.
“It tells me who he is and it tells me exactly why we should be talking about the rule of law and the Constitution,” said Deluzio, an Allegheny County Democrat.
In the video that set Trump off, the lawmakers, finishing one another’s sentences, reminded service members of their oath to the Constitution and instructed them to refuse to follow any order that would violate it.
“Right now, the threats to our Constitution aren’t just coming from abroad,” Deluzio says in the video.
“But from right here at home,” adds U.S. Rep. Jason Crow (D., Colo.) a former paratrooper and Army Ranger.
The video was shared by U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D., Mich.), a former CIA officer, and also included U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly (D., Ariz.), a former Navy captain, and U.S. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D., N.H.) a former intelligence officer.
Houlahan said she considered the video “innocuous.”
“It literally talked about the fact that you should follow only lawful orders, an obvious reminder that those of us who served have grown up on,” she said.
On Thursday morning, Trump shared a Washington Examiner article about the video with the headline “Dem veterans in Congress urge service members to refuse unspecified unlawful orders,” saying their message “is really bad, and Dangerous to our Country.”
“Their words cannot be allowed to stand. SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR FROM TRAITORS!!! LOCK THEM UP???” the president wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.
About an hour later, Trump added in his second post: “SEDITIOUS BEHAVIOR, punishable by DEATH!”
Sedition and treason cases in modern U.S. history are very rare.
Democratic condemnations of Trump’s comments poured in from across the country Thursday. Republicans were more muted. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) defended Trump’s claim that the Democrats had engaged in “sedition,” describing the video as “wildly inappropriate.”
“It is very dangerous. You have leading members of Congress telling troops to disobey orders,” he told CNN.
Sen. Dave McCormick, a Pennsylvania Republican and U.S. Army veteran, who has called out political violence in the past, both after Charlie Kirk’s killing and an arson at Gov. Josh Shapiro’s residence, defended the president’s verbal attacks on the lawmakers. “Not a single unlawful order is cited in this video — because there aren’t any,” he said in a statement.
“The video is inappropriate and unwarranted, and I didn’t hear any of these calls to defy orders when Democrats were using lawfare against President Trump,” he added, “Giving outlandish pardons, or intimidating tech companies to stop free speech.”
About an hour later McCormick’s spokesperson sent a second comment from him, adding: “President Trump can speak for himself, but as I’ve said repeatedly, there is no place in either party for violent rhetoric and everyone needs to dial it down a notch.”
One of the few Republicans to offer any criticism of the president was U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, who said in a statement that in the FBI he saw “how inflamed rhetoric can stoke tensions and lead to unintended violence.”
Fitzpatrick, a moderate from Bucks County who has butted heads with Trump in the past, did not name him in the statement but said the “exchange” was “part of a deeper issue of corrosive divisiveness that helps no one and puts our entire nation at risk. Such unnecessary incidents and incendiary rhetoric heighten volatility, erode public trust, and have no place in a constitutional republic, least of all in our great nation.”
Houlahan and Deluzio respond
Houlahan served three years on active duty as an Air Force engineer and an additional 13 years as a reserve, and reached the rank of captain. She has been outspoken against the Trump administration on military issues, particularly surrounding women serving in combat roles.
The lawmakers did not refer to any specific orders from the president in their video, but they had numerous concerns in mind.
Houlahan said it was sparked, in part, by military troops being deployed to U.S. cities and lethal strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean.
Trump has suggested that American cities should be “training grounds” for the military, and targeted Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington, and Portland for National Guard deployments. His administration’s boat strikes, which have led to protests in Philadelphia, have come under scrutiny by experts who say they are illegal, per the New York Times, which found Trump’s claims justifying the attacks to be questionable.
“What we were speaking to is the future, those who are currently serving, and making sure they remember who they serve and what they serve,” Houlahan said.
She said the lawmakers felt “a responsibility to … make sure people understood there are people in Congress who have your back.”
Deluzio said he learned about the oath the first day of boot camp and trained sailors on it when he gained rank.
“This is something that is fundamental to how our military works and the respect we show our service members,” he said.
Deluzio served six years in the Navy including three deployments. He cofounded the Democratic Veterans Caucus in June, which was formed in opposition to the Trump administration.
He said he has heard from people on both sides of the aisle and encouraged Republican colleagues to speak out publicly against the president’s remarks.
“Republican officials should be stepping up loudly and clearly and saying the calling of death by hanging to members of Congress is out of bounds,” he said.
James Markley, a spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Republican Party, declined to comment on Trump’s remarks and said in a text that “the woke left continues to attempt to rip apart the fibers of our communities and our country.”
“Our party will continue focusing on making our country safer, prosperous and more affordable,” he added.
A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, an Army veteran who is running for governor next year with the state GOP’s endorsement, did not respond to a request for comment.
Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has made a name for himself working across the aisle, said in a post on X that threatening members of Congress is “deeply wrong” without exception, regardless of political party.
“I strongly reject this dangerous rhetoric,” he said.
Gov. Josh Shapiro also quickly denounced Trumpforcalling for violence against Houlahan and Deluzio, describing them in a post on X as “two outstanding members of Congress from Pennsylvania who have fought for our country.”
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Trump ally who represents parts of central Pennsylvania, told a conservative radio station in October that Democrats in Congress “hate the military,” based on their voting records.
Deluzio and Houlahan, both members of the House Armed Services Committee, also banded together then to push back on Perry’s comments, calling them “garbage.”
WASHINGTON — Congress passed legislation Tuesday to require President Donald Trump’s administration to release troves of records related to notorious sex trafficker Jeffrey Epsteinafter months of pressure from Democrats and survivors on the issue.
The U.S. House voted427-1 to pass the bill on Tuesday, prompting lawmakers in the chamber to cheer. The legislation was then rapidly passed by the U.S. Senate through unanimous consent, a process that skips debate when no senator objects to a bill.
Despite the overwhelming bipartisan consensus, Tuesday’s House vote followed months of pushing by Democrats to bring it the floor as Trump unsuccessfully lobbied to prevent it from receiving a debate.
The president abruptly changed his stance on the bill this week after it became clear it had enough Republican support to pass against his objections. The veto-proof bill now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.
U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a freshman Republican who represents Northeastern Pennsylvania, told The Inquirer after the vote that his office “had a lot of phone calls” about the bill.
“We listened to our constituents… and I want to thank the people at home for bringing this to our attention,” he said outside the House chamber.
U.S. Rep. Clay Higgins, a Louisiana Republican, was the sole no vote. Five House members did not vote.
Trump said this week he would sign the bill into law, but he doesn’t actually need congressional approval to order the release of the files and could have already done so — a fact noted by U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans in the lead-up to the vote.
“Let’s be clear — Donald Trump doesn’t have to wait until Congress votes on this resolution,” Evans, a retiring Philadelphia Democrat, said in a Monday post on X. “If he wanted to, he could tell the Justice Department to release the Epstein files TODAY.”
The bill, called the Epstein Files Transparency Act, requires the Department of Justice to publish all unclassified files related to the prosecution and investigation of Jeffrey Epstein, a well-connected financier and convicted sex offender who was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 and determined to have died by suicide after being federally charged with sex trafficking underage girls. After his death, his close associate Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of sexually exploiting and abusing girls with him over the course of a decade.
The bill was led by U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, a California Democrat who grew up in Bucks County, and U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican who frequently breaks with party leadership. U.S. Reps. Mary Gay Scanlon and Chris Deluzio, both Pennsylvania Democrats, were cosponsors.
Trump suggested on the campaign trail that he would release files related to the Epstein investigation, but after his administration faced uproar over their lackluster release of information surrounding the investigation, he began discrediting the cause.
Trump is mentioned numerous times in files that have already been released, including in an email in which Epstein claims Trump “spent hours at my house” with a young woman who later said she was a victim of Epstein, the New York Times reported last week. The president was neighbors with Epstein in Florida and was photographed with him at numerous social occasions in the 1990s and 2000s. He has called the efforts for more transparency a Democratic “hoax” that had fooled “stupid” Republicans who would be committing a “hostile act” by supporting the release.
Bresnahan was hesitant to answer whether any of the mentions of the president concern him.
“I saw some of the email threads; a lot of it was snippets. I don’t know where it came from,” said Bresnahan, who represents a swing district.
“I want to look at the whole comprehensive picture,” he added.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) wasn’t going to allow the bill to be voted on the floor, so Khanna and Massie successfully forced the vote through a discharge petition, which was supported by all House Democrats and just three other Republicans — U.S. Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Nancy Mace of South Carolina, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.
Massie and Khanna started to gather signatures in September and got the 218th needed on Wednesday last week when U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D. Ariz.) was sworn into office after winning a special election in September.
U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle, a Philadelphia Democrat, blamed the delay for Grijalva’s swearing in on Trump and Johnson‘s resistance to the bill getting to the floor.
“There is a reason why Donald Trump has worked so hard to keep these Epstein files covered up,” he said in a video he shared on social media.
The bill reaching the floor put Republicans in a new bind: their stance on the matter would be on the record. They had to choose whether their loyalty to Trump would outweigh pressure from constituents on the matter.
Once it became clear the president wouldn’t prevail, Trump had a complete about-face Sunday night and called for lawmakers to support the bill.
“House Republicans should vote to release the Epstein files, because we have nothing to hide, and it’s time to move on from this Democrat Hoax perpetrated by Radical Left Lunatics in order to deflect from the Great Success of the Republican Party,” he posted on Truth Social.
“I DON’T CARE!” he added in the post and claimed that the files are a “curse on the Democrats, not us.”
Khanna said that almost 100 Republicans would have voted for the bill before Trump changed course in an interview with The New York Times.
“Trump saw his MAGA coalition was splintering and the last thing he could have had is a hundred Republicans vote for a Democratic bill in defiance of what he wanted,” he said in the interview. “Obviously, he has enough political instincts to realize how much he was losing on this issue.”
Once Trump signaled support for the bill, Khanna said he would “be surprised if it’s not close to unanimous.”
A separate House Oversight Committee investigation has released thousands of files from Epstein’s estate that show his connections spanning from Trump to influential leaders on Wall Street and across the globe. The Wall Street Journal also revealed over the summer a sexually explicit birthday message that appeared to be from the president to Epstein.
Trump has since called on the Justice Department to investigate ties between his political adversaries and Epstein, particularly the Clintons.
Survivors of Epstein’s abuse rallied outside the Capitol in the cold Tuesday morning.
Liz Stein, a survivor of Epstein’s abuse, said in a statement that she hopes “our elected leaders show the courage to stand with survivors.”
“Those of us directly impacted and harmed by the crimes of Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell deserve justice and for the world to know our story,” she said. “It’s time for real accountability and true transparency.”
Where did Pa. Republicans stand prior to Tuesday’s vote?
U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, a Bucks County Republican and former FBI agent who represents a purple district, had been quiet on the issue.
World Without Exploitation, an anti-human trafficking group that has called for the release of all Epstein files, put a billboard up in Fitzpatrick’s district that says: “Courage is Contagious: Release ALL The Epstein Files.”
Fitzpatrick was also the subject of digital ads from the Democratic National Committee about the Epstein files over the summer that called him one of Trump’s “sycophantic enablers.”
Even though no Pennsylvania Republicans signed onto the petition to allow a vote on the bill, some had previously indicated that they wanted the records released.
Bresnahan said on FOX56 WOLF on Friday that he wouldvote to release the files while making sure victims are protected. He told The Inquirer after the vote that he made that decision “weeks ago.”
When asked whether he was surprised at the near-unanimous support from his Republican peers, he said he “really wasn’t talking to a lot of my peers as to where they were going to be on it.”
Other Republicans made statements over the summer after the Justice Department said it would not release any more files. Attorney General Pam Bondi suggested in February that she had Epstein’s “client list,” but the department released files that were long in the public eye before claiming in July that Epstein didn’t actually have a list of clients.
U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, a freshman Republican who represents the Lehigh Valley, said during a telephone town hallin July that he would support measures to release DOJ files on Epstein if Trump’s administration doesn’t do more, NPR reported. He echoed that position Monday night, according to news reports.
“I know they have not released as much as I would like to see to date, but hopefully they’re going to be doing that,” he said in July. “And if not, then Congress should potentially step in and compel them to do that because again, the American people deserve to have full transparency and information about what is in those files, and ultimately, we’re going to get there.”
U.S. Rep. Scott Perry, a Trump ally who represents parts of Central Pennsylvania, shared a letter to Bondi on July 18 expressing “serious concern” over how the Epstein case had been handled and said it “remains one of the most troubling examples of apparent failures within our justice system.”
He said the Trump administration’s handling of the case at that point had “only heightened public distrust.” He cited how the administration’s February 2025 release of documents “contained little new information” and its pivot on a supposed client list.
“The continued secrecy surrounding these records undermines public confidence in the Justice Department’s commitment to justice,” he said at the time, requesting a special prosecutor to investigate the handling of the case.
Perry supported a Democratic motion in July to subpoena the Justice Department for the Epstein files in an effort led by U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a progressive Democrat from Pittsburgh. He also backed motions to subpoena former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton related to the case.
Fitzpatrick, Perry, Mackenzie, and Bresnahan all represent districts that will be targeted by Democrats during next year’s midterms.
Also in July, U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Luzerne) called for the release of “all the pertinent, credible Epstein files” but focused squarely on Clinton.
Other Republicans in the state have been pretty quiet on the matter.
Lee, the Pittsburgh Democrat who led the summer subpoena effort, said in a post on X after the vote that the Department of Justice has “slow-walked” the release of files for months and echoed that Trump hasn’t acted on his ability to compel the department to release the files.
“No matter how wealthy or well-connected, every person who is complicit, enabled, or abused women and girls will be brought to justice,” she added.
Protesters head to the U.S. Capitol in Washington D.C. Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2025 as a bill that would require the release of records relating to Jefrey Epstein comes to a vote.
The turning point in Pennsylvania’s budget impasse, by Gov. Josh Shapiro’s telling, came just before Halloween, when he and leaders in Harrisburg gathered in his stately, wood-paneled office to meet twice daily to hash out a deal to end the bitter, monthslong stalemate.
The long grind eventually led to compromises 135 days in, and a deal Shapiro said he thinks is far better than what national Democrats, hoping to extend healthcare subsidies, got in Washington at the end of the federal shutdown.
“Sometimes you’ve got to show that you’re willing to stay at the table and fight and bring people together in order to deliver,” Shapiro told The Inquirer in an interview Friday, touting the state budget agreement finally signed that week.
“I think it’s a stark contrast, frankly, with what happened in D.C., where they didn’t stay at the table, they didn’t fight, and they got nothing,” he said.
Washington is controlled by Republicans, while in Pennsylvania, Democrats control the state House and governorship, and Republicans hold a majority in the Senate.
Both state and federal budgets were signed the same day, offering Pennsylvanians relief from more than a month of government dysfunction at two levels. But for Shapiro — an exceedingly popular Democratic governor facing reelection in 2026 as whispers swirl over his potential 2028 presidential ambitions — the moment was bigger than a procedural win. In the end, Shapiro, preaching his oft-used slogan of “getting things done,” cast the outcome as proof he can muscle through gridlock of a divided legislature, cut deals under pressure, and hold firm where others cave.
So what if it took almost five months? Shapiro argues. At least he didn’t fold.
“I would have hoped to have gotten this budget done, you know, 100 or so days earlier,” Shapiro said, putting pen to paper in the state Capitol building’s baroque reception room last week. “But I think what you also saw was the result of having the courage to stay at the table and keep fighting for what you believe in. And we got a lot more than we gave in this budget.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro signs the fiscal year 2025-26 budget surrounded by General Assembly members on Nov. 12 at the Capitol in Harrisburg. The state budget had been due June 30, and Pennsylvania the final state in the country to approve a funding deal.
Critics are quick to note it took the self-proclaimed dealmaker so long to get a deal. Counties, school districts, and nonprofits struggled through four months without state payments while officials remained at loggerheads.Pennsylvania was the last state in the nation to pass a spending plan for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
“He’s five months late. He’s the governor of the fifth-biggest state in the country and the last state to get a budget done,” GOP consultant Vince Galko said. “It’s not a failing grade because it got done, but it’s still a D.”
‘A tremendous cost’
The $50.1 billion budget includes several key priorities for Shapiro and Democrats: significant increases in public education funding, a new tax credit for lower- and middle-income residents, continuation of a popular student-teacher stipend, and other economic and workforce development initiatives.
House Speaker Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) heaped praise on Shapiro during a Monday news conference celebrating the budget’s new Working Pennsylvanians tax credit. “I am grateful that here in Harrisburg we have a hero among us for working families, and his name is Josh Shapiro.”
State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) is on the rostrum in the House chamber on Jan. 7 after she was reelected speaker of the House despite an initial 101-101 tie vote along party lines.
State Sen. Nikil Saval, a progressive lawmaker who represents part of Philadelphia, was one of a handful of Democrats to vote against the bipartisan Pennsylvania budgetbill that was largely lauded by Democrats and Republicans in Harrisburg and beyond. Saval applauded the school funding, anti-violence grant funding, and childcare support but slammed the absence of transit funding and Democrats’ agreement to end their pursuit to join a key climate program.
“Unfortunately, it comes at this tremendous cost,” he said.And ultimately, Saval said, the finished product didn’t seem to justify the time it took to get there.
Gov. Josh Shapiro visits SEPTA headquarters on Aug. 10 to discuss funding for the transit agency. To his right, from left, are state Democratic legislators Sen. Anthony H. Williams; Sen. Nikil Saval; Rep. Ed Neilson; and Rep. Jordan Harris.
It was not just transit funding that took a back seat to get the budget deal over the line. To thedelight of Republicans — and the chagrin of some progressive Democrats and the climate-conscious — the deal also pulled the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cooperative among states to reduce carbon emissions.
“For years, the Republicans who have led the Senate have used RGGI as an excuse to stall substantive conversations about energy,” Shapiro said. “Today, that excuse is gone.”
The powerful Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council had lobbied heavily for lawmakers to walk away from the initiative, and it was a top win for state Republicans, who have long said the state should not join the multistate cap-and-trade emissions program they see as hamstringing Pennsylvania’s energy industry from accessing the state’s plentiful natural resources.
‘Two-a-days’
Shapiro said he spent months “running back and forth” to broker a deal between Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) and House Majority Leader Matt Bradford (D., Montgomery). The three met on-and-off in private talks, attempting to hammer out a compromise between the Democratic House and Republican-controlled Senate. But the week of Oct. 27, more than four months into the stalemate, Shapiro said a “breakthrough” finally came when he broadened the talks to include McClinton and Ward.
Minority leaders Rep. Jesse Topper (R., Bedford) and Sen. Jay Costa (D., Allegheny) also joined the group, as it became clear that neither of the tightly controlled chambers would have the votes needed to pass a final budget deal.
The group met twice daily in a conference room in Shapiro’s office. Shapiro, always a fan of the sports metaphor, called the meetings “two-a-days.”
“We would come in the morning, go over the issues. We’d have our homework for a few hours, then come back in the afternoon and talk about, you know, the progress that we made,” Shapiro said. Coming out of that week, the governor said, leaders “had a clear direction on where we were going to go.”
Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and Gov. Josh Shapiro show a budget document moments after it was signed Nov. 12 while surrounded by legislators at the state Capitol. A deal struck Nov. 12 ended a budget delay that lasted more than four months.
At the negotiating table, Shapiro served as “referee and facilitator” between House Democrats and Senate Republicans, McClinton said in an interview Monday.
“The man is nothing if not dogged and determined,” Bradford said of Shapiro last week.
Two officials in the closed-door talks said Topper’s presence, as the House minority leader who understands House Democrats and Senate Republicans, helped change the dynamic and got leaders on track toward a deal. Other officials in negotiations noted that once the state’s two top leaders — McClinton and Ward, who are both the first women to serve in their roles — the breakthrough deal swiftly came together.
Topper, for his part, didn’t try to take credit for striking the final budget deal, calling himself “a neutral arbiter” and “someone all sides can trust to have an honest dialogue.”
There were other signs of tensions easing as the legislators worked through the fall. Ward, a top critic of Shapiro since he reneged on a promise he made over school vouchers during his first budget negotiations, joined the conversations. The two had not met in person since 2023, and had barely communicated. Suddenly, they were sitting across from one another.
Kim Ward, president pro tempore of the Pennsylvania Senate, talks with her chief of staff Rob Ritson in her office Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2023, before heading out to preside over the swearing-in of Lt. Gov. Austin Davis in the Senate chambers.
Ward said her criticisms of Shapiro still stand — she wants him to be more transparent, among other disagreements. But she described the conversations as “very cordial, very professional.” And there were moments of levity that helped, said the top Republican leader in the Senate, who is known for her wry humor.
“He did leave me a sugar sprinkle heart [cookie] one day at my seat, and I told him, ‘You know, I’m too old for you, and we’re both married,’” she joked.
“I can’t understand why all these legislators think they did a great job,” she said on The Conservative Voice radio program, breaking with GOP leaders, like Ward and Pittman, who lauded the deal. “… Next year, they’re going to have to dip into the Rainy Day Fund to plug a budget, and then taxes are going to go up.”
Because of how long this budget took to finalize, Shapiro will already need to introduce his next budget in just three months, and in proximity to the 2026 midterms and Pennsylvania governor’s election. But it’s unclear whether those negotiations will be as fraught, given budgets tend to get resolved faster in election years with both parties eager to focus on the campaign trail.
“In this day and age, I would not downplay the fact that there was compromise,” said Berwood Yost, a pollster with Franklin and Marshall College. “People want their problems solved. They want politicians to do things that help their everyday lives and that, for most people, means some kind of compromise. Getting this problem solved fits with his narrative.”
Galko, the GOP consultant, looked further ahead to a potential 2028 presidential election. The budget impasse, he said, could provide material for Democratic rivals on the national stage. The possible field is filled with other governors, several from blue states, like Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Gov. Gavin Newsom of California, where in-state dealmaking is easier among a uniform legislature.
“If he’s unable to negotiate with the Pennsylvania Senate, what’s he gonna do when he goes up against China or Russia?” Galko asked, previewing the possible attack.
Ultimately, history suggests Shapiro’s political success is likely to hinge less on the nuts and bolts of a budget only some Pennsylvanians — and even fewer outside Pennsylvania — are familiar with, and more on his ability to bolster his image as a bipartisan governor in a purple state.
On Friday morning in South Philadelphia, Shapiro sported a bomber jacket while posing for selfies with Eagles fans, nodding along to a rock band’s cover of “Santeria” in a tent outside the Xfinity Mobile Arena at an event hosted by radio station WMMR.
Casually, almost as a throwaway line, Shapiro mentioned to radio hosts Preston and Steve during an interview that he planned to bring Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer — a fellow swing-state governor seen, too, as a possible 2028 Democratic contender — as his guest to the Eagles-Lions game at the Linc that Sunday.
“She actually said, ‘Is it OK if I wear Lions stuff?’” Shapiro told the kelly green-clad crowd in Philadelphia, riffing on the friendly football rivalry — the undercurrents of national politics left unspoken. “And I’m like, ‘No problem. You’re on your own in the parking lot. I can’t protect you.’”
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro at Sunday’s game between the Eagles and Detroit Lions at Lincoln Financial Field.
The event was a food drive but also served as a tribute to the station’s beloved late host, Pierre Robert. Shapiro brought along a commendation from the governor’s office for the occasion.
“He created community, created joy, brought people together,” Shapiro said of Robert. “You think about just how divided we are as a world, there’s a few things that still bring us together, right?”
“By the way, I’ve learned those lessons. That’s what I try and do governing with a, you know, divided legislature.”
Music and sports, the governor mused before the crowd of Philadelphia fans, are two things that bridge the gap. “Go Birds,” he added with a grin.
Staff writer Katie Bernard contributed to this article.
Fetterman has not announced whether he will run for reelection in 2028, but the progressive party put out a public declaration Tuesday pledging to endorse — and, if necessary, recruit and train — a challenger.
The announcement, first reported by The Inquirer, is a remarkable step for the left-leaning organization to take more than two years before an election and speaks to the degree of frustration with Fetterman among progressives.
“At a time when Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to make life harder for working people, we need real leaders in the Senate who are willing to fight for the working class,” Shoshanna Israel, Mid-Atlantic political director for the Working Families Party, said in a statement.
“Senator Fetterman has sold us out, and that’s why the Pennsylvania Working Families Party is committed to recruiting and supporting a primary challenge to him in 2028.”
Fetterman did not immediately return a request for comment about the Working Families Party’s announcement.
The Working Families Party is a progressive, grassroots political party that is independent from the Democratic Party, but it often endorses and supports Democratic candidates.
Though he supports extending federal healthcare subsidies, Fetterman has long said he is against government shutdowns as a negotiating tactic and will always vote to get federal coffers flowing and federal employees paid.
“I’m sorry to our military, SNAP recipients, gov workers, and Capitol Police who haven’t been paid in weeks,” Fetterman said in a post on X after the vote. “It should’ve never come to this. This was a failure.”
Already one of the most well-known and scrutinized senators in Washington, Fetterman was back in the spotlight this week as he returns to work following a hospitalization after a fall near his home in Braddock. His staff said he suffered a “ventricular fibrillation flare-up” and hit his face, sustaining “minor injuries.”
Ventricular fibrillation is the most severe form of arrhythmia — an abnormal heart rhythm — and the most common cause of sudden cardiac death.
He spent Thursday and Friday in the hospital and was released Saturday, saying he was feeling good and grateful for his care with plans to be back in the Senate this week.
Working Families on the offensive
Israel said in addition to the online portal, the party will hold a number of recruitment events across Pennsylvania in the coming months to train candidates and campaign staff on the basics of running for office and managing a campaign with hopes of finding quality candidates for a variety of races ahead of 2028.
The party is also pledging a robust ground game and fundraising for a potential challenger it supports.
It wouldn’t be the first time the Working Families Party has opposed Fetterman. In the 2022 Democratic Senate primary, WFP endorsed State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) over Fetterman, who was lieutenant governor at the time.
The book makes no mention of a reelection bid but laments the ugly politics he experienced in both the Democratic primary and his general election race against Mehmet Oz.
Fetterman said in the book that Oz’s attacks during his rehabilitation from his stroke became so mentally crushing he felt he should have quit the race.
And he grapples with criticism he faced during the primary surrounding a 2013 incident in which he wielded a shotgun and apprehended a Black jogger he suspected of a shooting. Fetterman calls the backlash an early trigger of his depression.
Fetterman has said he will remain a Democrat even as Republicans have lauded his independent streak and willingness to work with the GOP.
Earlier this year, Fetterman was the first Senate Democrat to support the Laken Riley Act, a Republican immigration bill that requires U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to detain and take into custody individuals who have been charged with theft-related offenses, even without a conviction. Critics of the law say it severely cracks down on due process for immigrants.
Fetterman was the sole Senate Democrat to vote to confirm Attorney General Pam Bondi, who was one of Trump’s attorneys when he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“He has repeatedly shown disregard for the rights of Palestinians,” the Working Families Party release said. “Refusing to support a two-state solution and breaking with the rest of the Democratic caucus on Israel’s illegal annexation of the West Bank.”
Staff writer Aliya Schneider contributed to this article.
The results of the tight race could be a barometer, nationally, for which party has an edge, and signal the type of messaging and candidate that can win over New Jersey voters in an increasingly purple state.
The race has attracted national attention and resources from both parties — especially Democrats who see the seat as a critical opportunity to build momentum and safeguard the state from the policies of President Donald Trump.
Ciattarelli spent his final campaign week rallying with Puerto Rican voters in Passaic County and taking his “It’s Time” bus tour around the state. He held meet-and-greets, rallies, and diner stops over the weekend in Monmouth, Ocean, Union, and Bergen Counties.
Sherrill, who would be only the second woman elected governor in the state should she prevail on Tuesday, rallied with former President Barack Obama on Saturday in Newark and with Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim on Sunday in Camden and Mount Laurel Township. The events followed a week that included a “Driving Down Costs” bus tour and appearances with former Transportation Secretary and presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg and Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.
Along with her promise to take on landlords “colluding to raise rents” and to tackle pharmaceutical prices, Sherrill reiterated her campaign promise to freeze utility rate hikes on her first day in office at the rally with Obama on Saturday.
“New Jersey, I’m not playing,” she told the audience. “I’m not writing a strongly worded letter and I’m not starting up a working group. I am not doing a 10-year study. I’m declaring a state of emergency.”
For decades, New Jerseyans had voted blue at the national level while electing Republicans to the governor’s mansion. Democrats have a voter registration advantage of about 850,000 voters in New Jersey, but 2.2 million voters are registered unaffiliated. And GOP registrations have outpaced Democratic ones since the 2024 presidential election, when Trump swung the state significantly redder, losing by only 6 points.
Ashley Koning, the director of the Rutgers Center for Public Interest Polling, said either candidate has a “very plausible path to victory.”
Democratic candidate for governor U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill poses with members of the Princeton College Democrats as she appears at a Mercer County Democrats GOTV Rally at the Mercer Oaks Golf Course in West Windsor Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025. From left are: Julian Danoff; Michelle Miao; and Paul Wang. (The group’s motto: “Bringing blue values to the Orange Bubble.”)
Dueling headwinds
There are dueling headwinds at play in the contest for New Jersey governor, too. Both Trump and Murphy are unpopular with about half of New Jersey voters. New Jersey hasn’t elected the same party to a third term for the governorship since 1961, but Republicans have also not won the office while their party has held the White House since 1985.
Once the votes are tallied in Tuesday’s election, New Jersey political history will be made either way.
Ken Martin, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said he expects the race to be a close win for Democrats, noting “a win is a win.”
He resisted the critiques from some fellow Democrats that Sherrill played her campaign too safe, “in an era of brash bravado, machismo, and Donald Trump, and these candidates basically saying whatever the hell they want.”
“I think what she’s been doing is putting out a pretty compelling message to New Jerseyans and campaigning everywhere to make sure that they understand what she’s focused on,” he said.
The party’s vice chair, Pa. State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta (D., Philadelphia) predicted a good night for Democrats in New Jersey. “There’s that famous saying that ‘Trenton makes, the world takes,’ and I think Trenton is going to make a lot of momentum that we are going to take into 2026 and beyond.”
“I feel it, you know, I feel it on the ground,” said Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.) who campaigned with Sherrill in between fielding questions from fellow Democrats in Washington about what the race looks like back home.
“Everyone I talked to knows what’s at stake,” Kim said.
Chris Russell, Ciattarelli’s political strategist, argued that Ciattarelli has garnered support from voters who have traditionally supported Democrats by delivering them a clearer message on affordability.
“We put a significant amount of time and resources, driven and led by Jack, to be present in minority communities like the Hispanic community and the Black community, and we believe that effort is going to pay off,” he said.
Republican candidate for governor Jack Ciattarelli poses with members of the Pascucci family as he greets supporters at Palermo’s Pizza in Bordentown Monday, Oct.13, 2025 while campaigning in South Jersey.
‘A totally different vibe’
As the candidates made their final burst of media appearances in the countdown to Election Day, Ciattarelli, in a town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Thursday night, said the Republican campaign energy “is electric.” Ciattarelli said he was encouraged by early-vote and vote-by-mail numbers, which, while trailing Democrats, had surpassed 2021 GOP turnout numbers.
“We go after those one out of four Republicans … who typically only vote in presidential years,” Ciattarelli said on Hannity’s program. “We’ve done a magnificent job, our local Republican organizations have, in getting those people to vote by mail or vote early.”
State Sen. Latham Tiver, a South Jersey Republican, said Ciattarelli’s campaign stops are a “totally different vibe” than his last run in 2021. He recalls Ciattarelli introducing himself table to table, but now, Tiver said when the candidate enters the room, people flock to him.
“Jack’s doing everything he can. … He’s pounding the pavement, he’s meeting more and more people, and we’re all out there doing the same thing for him,” Tiver said.
As the candidates make their final push to lead New Jersey, the outcome will likely depend on who shows up at the polls Tuesday.
Both campaigns have motivated bases, but the election could come down to the less engaged and whether they decide to vote. Despite a record amount of spending in the state, only about 2% of voters remained undecided in polls.
“I don’t think people give enough credit — pollsters, political wonks — to just how burnt out the average American is,” said Jackie Cornell, who previously ran field operations for Obama’s campaign in New Jersey.
“They just don’t want to hear anything about any of this any more, and I worry that will be the deterrent more so than anything else.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro is hitting the campaign trail in two key states this weekend.
With less than two weeks left until Election Day, Shapiro will campaign and raise cash for U.S. Reps. Mikie Sherrill (D., N.J.) and Abigail Spanberger, (D., Va.), two Democratic hopefuls in high-stakes gubernatorial races that could preview the national mood ahead of next year’s midterms.
Shapiro will campaign with Sherrill Saturday morning in Monroe Township at an event to mark the start of early in-person voting in the Democratic-leaning state which has grown increasingly red. The pair will then attend a Souls to the Polls event at a church in New Brunswick, Shapiro For Pennsylvania spokesperson Manuel Bonder said.
The governor is also expected to hold a fundraiser for the New Jersey Democratic State Committee to benefit Sherrill’s campaign later in the day.
On Sunday, Shapiro will head to Virginia to attend events in Portsmouth and Norfolk with Spanberger.
Sherrill has amped up her campaigning in recent weeks, and she’s brought out big Democratic names to help her. In the last three weeks, she’s campaigned with New Jersey Sens. Cory Booker and Andy Kim, and with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. Former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg is planning a visit to New Jersey next weekend, and Sherrill’s campaign curtain call the Saturday before Election Day will feature a rally with former President Barack Obama.
This combination photo shows candidates for governor of New Jersey Republican Jack Ciattarelli, left, and Democrat Mikie Sherrill during the final debate in governors race, Oct. 8, 2025, in New Brunswick, N.J. (AP Photos/Heather Khalifa)
Why Shapiro is involved in the New Jersey governor’s race
Shapiro is a big draw on the campaign trail as he continues to build a national profile, and gears up for his own reelection campaign next year. The first-term governor, who is seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, announced the 2026 release of a memoir this week.
The poll also found that Shapiro is viewed favorably by some Republicans, an across-the-aisle appeal that appears to extend across the Delaware River.
Shapiro’s been lauded by Sherrill’s Republican opponent in the New Jersey race, Jack Ciattarelli, a trend chronicled recently by Politico.
Ciattarelli commended Shapiro’s willingness to criticize New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s past comments on Israel, and praised his handling of small businesses, energy and property taxes in Pennsylvania, contrastingly saying New Jersey faces a “crisis” in all three.
Sherrill has said frequently that she wants to mimic Pennsylvania’s success in cutting the time it takes business owners to get permits from state government.
This story has been updated to correct the location of Gov. Josh Shapiro’s first stop with U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill on the campaign trail Saturday.
