Pa. AG Josh Shapiro says he has more than $10 million in cash for his gubernatorial campaign

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro has more than $10 million for his gubernatorial bid, his campaign said Wednesday, more than a year before the 2022 election.

That unusually large sum so early in the race helps explain why Shapiro, a Montgomery County Democrat, has already effectively cleared the Democratic primary field and isn’t expected to face a significant challenge.

Shapiro, who announced his candidacy just last week, wasn’t required to disclose the fund-raising haul, so his announcement amounted to a show of force as a crowded field of Republicans girds for a messy primary fight.

The fund-raising figures include money raised from his attorney general campaign account, which he can use for his gubernatorial bid.

“Pennsylvanians know that Josh Shapiro has always taken on the big fights and gotten things done, and they know he’ll stand up for them as governor,” campaign manager Dana Fritz said in a statement. “Josh has already built support for his vision in every corner of the Commonwealth, and we’re in an incredibly strong position more than a year before Election Day – we’re confident that the grassroots team behind our campaign will power us to victory next November.”

Gov. Tom Wolf is term-limited and cannot seek reelection next year, and the race to succeed him is expected to be highly competitive.

A spokesperson for the state GOP didn’t return messages seeking comment.

Shapiro didn’t name his donors. He and other candidates for governor won’t have to do that until required campaign-finance reports are due at the end of January. Pennsylvania has no individual limits on donations to candidates for state office.

However, some donors that are subject to more frequent disclosures have reported contributions to Shapiro’s campaign. The single biggest publicly available donation this year is $500,000 from Greater PA Carpenters. A PAC affiliated with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees gave $250,000. Other labor unions have chipped in hundreds of thousands more, records show.

Shapiro began the year with $2.7 million in cash, records show. His campaign said he raised more than $9 million since then, and has spent $1.6 million, leaving a balance of over $10 million.

By comparison, Republican Tom Corbett had $3.2 million at the start of 2010 as he prepared his successful gubernatorial campaign that year, or $4 million in today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation.

Democrat Ed Rendell had $9.5 million at the start of his successful 2002 gubernatorial campaign. That’s about $14.7 million in today’s dollars.