Shapiro can turn his political blunder into a moral good and transform the Democratic Party

What an embarrassment. In the span of 24 hours, Gov. Josh Shapiro went from savvy political strategist to inept novice and sellout; upended by his own House majority leader, Matt Bradford.

The governor was unable to bring Bradford into the line on the budget Shapiro negotiated in good faith with Senate Republicans. This forced Shapiro into a blunder of threatening to veto Lifeline Scholarships — one of the governor’s stated priorities, which he touted on national TV just days prior.

Teachers’ unions were already furious with the governor over his school choice support. Now Shapiro has lost not only the trust of Senate Republicans but also the Republican voters who believed his promises.

Where did it all go wrong?

Republican Senate leaders’ top priority was Lifeline Scholarships and increases to the tax credit scholarship programs. After making numerous changes to the original Lifeline Scholarship bill to meet the governor’s demands, Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman — who was at the negotiation table with the governor — said that Republicans and Shapiro had a deal.

Pittman told me that throughout the negotiations, he believed, as is tradition, that the governor was representing his party at the table. Apparently, Shapiro thought that, too. Pittman said, “We have a governor that I truly believe sees things the way we do [on Lifeline Scholarships] that hasn’t been able to figure out how to convince his party to come across and understand the value of empowering parents.”

The problem was Bradford. The Montgomery County-area representative broke ranks with Shapiro, stripping out Lifeline from an earlier bill. Bradford’s unwillingness to go along with the governor forced Shapiro into a spectacular blunder. Threatening to line-item veto your own priority is not a good look.

People familiar with the inner workings of the Democratic caucus, including a Democratic state lawmaker, told me there are anywhere from 15 to 30 House Democrats who would have voted yes on a budget with Lifeline Scholarships before the governor threatened to veto it. That support, I’m told, remains. Some of those “pre-veto threat yes votes” are Democratic members of the Black Caucus, who represent families desperate to get their kids out of failing schools.

But Bradford wouldn’t allow it. It’s not a surprise: Bradford took more than $200,000 from teachers’ unions — one of the top recipients of government union money. Interestingly, Bradford also takes a personal salary from a law firm whose clients include many of the school districts he votes to fund. In 2018, he was rebuked for failing to disclose this fact.

Unable to get Bradford to play ball, Shapiro caved and issued the veto threat.

The headlines were swift and brutal: “A tear in Superman’s cape,” “Rare misstep,” and “School choice sellout.” But the worse headlines for Shapiro weren’t online and in newspapers — instead, they came from people like my parents.

“What is wrong with him? I voted for him!” my father indignantly shouted across the phone line. My mother chimed in, “We are heartbroken.”

My parents were Kennedy Democrats. In 1980, they voted for Ronald Reagan and never went back to the Democratic Party — until Josh Shapiro ran for governor.

It wasn’t just that they, like many Republicans, were appalled by the GOP gubernatorial candidate’s associations with antisemitism and his misguided propagation of Christianity for political ends. Many sincerely liked Shapiro and voted for him.

Many felt Shapiro would be the guy to transform the Democratic Party and deliver it from the clutches of the government unions, which have radicalized the party. The unions advocated and successfully kept our kids out of school during COVID-19 — which led to severe mental health problems and learning losses we are all now coping with.

Shapiro is trapped. The unions don’t trust him, and now the Republicans don’t, either. Worse, there are tens of thousands of kids — many of them students of color — trapped in failing schools who are going to be denied an opportunity if Shapiro doesn’t fix this.

The governor has a clear path toward redemption. The state budget is only half done. If Shapiro steps up as the leader voters expected, he can still negotiate a deal that secures bipartisan support in the House and Senate and deliver Lifeline Scholarships.

If Shapiro doesn’t do this, the Republican Senate is not going to give Shapiro any of his priorities in the final budget. If Shapiro adds in Lifeline Scholarships and increases tax credit scholarship programs, he will not only do a moral good, but also transform the Democratic Party, and quite possibly turn those Reagan Republicans into Shapiro Democrats.

Let’s hope he has the political savvy to get this done.