Why I'm running

Hello! 

It’s Josh, and for my first blog post, I thought it’d be appropriate to share with you why I’m running to be Pennsylvania’s next Governor. 

Let me start at the beginning.

I grew up in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, watching my parents serve their community — my father as a pediatrician, and my mother as an educator. Their example inspired me to enter into public service, and from a young age, I recognized that standing up for others was how I wanted to spend my career.

I went to college at the University of Rochester — where I got cut from the men’s basketball team my freshman year. But then, someone knocked on my door and said I should run for student government. He pointed out that I didn’t have anything else going on after getting cut from the team… so what did I have to lose? So I ran, and I won.

Once I graduated, I began working in government while putting myself through law school at night. And after marrying my high-school sweetheart Lori and welcoming our first child, we returned to my hometown and I successfully ran for State Representative. I helped write and pass some of the toughest ethics laws in state history — taking on the status quo for the people of Pennsylvania.

As a County Commissioner of Pennsylvania’s third-largest county, I led a fiscal and ethical turnaround. I put the county back on solid financial footing, took early steps to combat the heroin epidemic, helped the first LGBT couples in Pennsylvania marry, and fired Wall Street money managers to save taxpayers and retirees millions.

In 2016, I successfully ran to be Pennsylvania’s Attorney General. As Attorney General, my Office exposed the Catholic Church’s decades-long cover up of child sexual abuse, identifying 301 predator priests and thousands of victims. I reached an agreement between two of the Commonwealth’s largest insurance companies — protecting health care access for almost 2 million Pennsylvanians — and I’ve repeatedly gone to court to defend Pennsylvanians’ reproductive rights and a woman’s right to choose.

During the 2020 presidential election, we protected the right to vote and defended Pennsylvania’s election results, winning in court dozens of times before and after Election Day. To this day, I’m still calling out the dangerous lies that undermine our democracy and fighting to protect our voting rights in Pennsylvania.

I’m continuing to stand up for Pennsylvanians, take on big fights, and deliver real results. I’m fighting the opioid epidemic head on: I’ve arrested more than 8,000 drug dealers while investigating and suing pharmaceutical companies and the CEOs who knowingly perpetuated the crisis to line their own pockets. 

I’m standing up for everyday consumers, seniors who’ve been scammed, and students preyed upon by private lenders by obtaining over $328 million in relief to Pennsylvanians who have been ripped off. 

I know Pennsylvanians need a Governor who will take on the biggest fights and solve our most pressing problems. 

So if you ask me why I want to be Pennsylvania’s next Governor, it’s for good-paying jobs. For better infrastructure. For high-quality education. For choice. For democracy. 

For Pennsylvanians.