By Lex Ennis ‘23
We are halfway through President Biden’s first term as President of The United States, which can only mean one thing. The 2022 Midterm elections have come and gone, and it seems the people of PA have voted in favor of the Democrats when it comes to the Governor seat and the 2nd Senate seat.
Republican Senator Pat Toomey was elected back in 2010 beating Joe Sestak by about 80,000 votes. This year though, Toomey announced that he would not be seeking re-election in the 2022 senate race. The two men competing to replace him were Democrat Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman and former talk show host Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz. After a close race, Fetterman ended up beating Dr. Oz by about 166,000 votes.
Democrat Tom Wolf has been serving as Pennsylvania’s Governor since 2014 beating Republican Tom Corbett by about 344,000 votes. After serving both of his eligible terms, Wolf can not run for re-election. The new nominees for Governor were Democrat Josh Shapiro and Republican Doug Mastriono. The winner of the race ended up being Josh Shapiro, winning by about 686,000 votes.
Since we know who our new Governor and Senator will be, here’s some background information on them.
Governor elect Josh Shapiro was born on June 20th 1973. Raised in Montgomery County, Josh went to The University of Rochester where he studied political science. He then attended Georgetown University where he earned his law degree. Shapiro was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2004, beating former Republican U.S. Congressman Jon D. Fox. Shapiro represented the 153rd District from 2005 – 2012. Shapiro also ran for Pennsylvania Attorney General in 2016, won, and then won re-election in 2020. Shapiro married Lori Shapiro in 1997 and has 4 children, Sophia, Reuben, Jonah, and Max.
Lastly, Senator elect, John Fetterman was born August 15th 1969 in West Reading. Raised in York, John went to Albright College to study Finance. He earned a MBA from the University of Connecticut, joined AmeriCorps, and earned a master in public policy at Harvard University. 2022 wasn’t the first time Fetterman ran for Senate. In 2016, Fetterman announced he would be looking for the democratic nomination to run against Pat Toomey. Fetterman ended up losing the nomination to former senate nominee Katie McGinty, who ended up losing against Toomey anyway by 86,690 votes. He also beat Mike Stack for Lieutenant Governor in 2016. Fetterman is married to Gisele Barreto Almeida and has 3 children, Karl, Grace, and August.
Shapiro and Fetterman will both start their terms in January 2023.