News & Brews August 4, 2025
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(Some of) the donors behind Shapiro’s inauguration
For years, Gov. Shapiro has refused to disclose who gave millions of dollars to fund his inauguration celebration, and for years he’s also refused to say who funds Team PA, which has paid for his Super Bowl tickets (among other things). Well, now, some of this info has been discovered, and it turns out the answers are (in part) one and the same. Spotlight PA reports that donors to Shapiro’s inaugural committee “include influential lobbying firms, unions, and corporations with interests before the commonwealth’s government.” And donors to Team PA include … Shapiro’s inaugural committee.
Shapiro sues for gender transition for minors
Gov. Shapiro has joined a lawsuit against President Trump’s move to protect minor children from life-altering gender transition procedures and medicines that are often pushed on children who are unable to reasonably consent. The Delaware Valley Journal reports, “The lawsuit asks the court to continue to permit the sex-change treatments on minors.” Responding to Shapiro’s actions, Pennsylvania Family Institute Vice President of Policy Tom Shaheen said, “So-called ‘gender-affirming care’ is permanently harming children, and it must be stopped. The Trump administration is right to take action, and Gov. Shapiro is wrong to stand in the way. By joining this lawsuit, Shapiro is defending a practice the most rigorous studies to date say lacks evidence. These chemical and surgical interventions are irreversible, harmful, and far from the settled science activists claim.”
Blue wave or ‘blue trickle?’
It’s been long understood in politics that mid-term elections often go against the party in power in the White House. But that doesn’t mean this is a given. And POLITICO reports that as “many Democrats are betting on a blue wave next year to help them regain favor with disenchanted voters and claw back some control in Washington … several key indicators are turning into warning signs instead.” Indeed Emerson College Polling Center’s Matt Taglia said, “I don’t see a blue wave. It’s more like a blue trickle.” Time will tell.
Shapiro is ineffective while D.C. ‘gets s*** done’
The Commonwealth Foundation’s Nathan Benefield writes in PennLive that as we enter the second month of the state budget impasse, “Gov. Shapiro has taken to criticizing Republicans [who are]—get this—actually passing transformative legislation.” Specifically, congressional Republicans who recently passed President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill. “Love it or hate it,” Benefield writes, “the OBBB could be a case study for negotiating legislative priorities…. It’s not often that Washington gets accused of being efficient, but in the past few months, President Trump has brokered several big deals. Meanwhile, Gov. Josh Shapiro has been unable to broker a deal with state lawmakers to create a budget that balances.”
Pinsley joins growing Dem field in PA-07
Democrat Mark Pinsley, the Lehigh County Controller who has run for state Senate twice as well as for auditor general, is angling for the nomination to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie. WVIA reports, “Pinsley joins a crowded field of candidates that includes Northampton County Executive Lamont McClure; Carol Obando-Derstine, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Bob Casey; and Ryan Crosswell, a former federal prosecutor.”