News & Brews August 20, 2025
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Garrity to be ‘formidable’ challenger to Shapiro
The Post-Gazette reports that both Republicans and Democrats agree that Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who this week announced her candidacy for governor, will be “a credible and formidable opponent” to Gov. Josh Shapiro. Both parties also agree that taking on a popular incumbent governor is no easy task, but Republican consultants say “Garrity is up to the challenge,” with one person noting, “Those that short sell her are making a big mistake.”
LNP shows its true left-wing colors
We’ve long known that the LNP/LancasterOnline is a left-wing media outlet, but a recent incident involving an op-ed submitted by Republican U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker underscores just how biased the LNP is. It seems the outlet has a major double standard for publishing opinion pieces and demanded that Smucker change his piece to align better with the LNP’s position, telling his staff to “take it or leave it.” If you’ve ever dealt with the liberal media, this story won’t surprise you at all. If you haven’t, this story provides a glimpse into what it’s like. Enjoy.
‘TikTok Josh’ has a social media challenger?
Gov. Josh Shapiro loveesssssss his X, Instagram, & TikTok accounts. Last month, the Inquirer reported on the massive taxpayer-funded staff dedicated to Shapiro’s public image, and the Commonwealth Foundation, which dubbed Shapiro “TikTok Josh,” reminds us that he has posted more than 200 TikTok videos this year while enacting zero state budgets. But wait! Is Shapiro being outdone by another governor? POLITICO reports that California Gov. Gavin Newsom—also a potential 2028 presidential contender—has “trolled his way to the top of social media.” In fact, “No other prospective 2028 candidate — Democrat or Republican — is breaking through in the online attention economy like Newsom.” As one example, Newsom’s campaign X account has more than 2.4 million followers (far ahead of Shapiro’s 315,000).
Pa. state government ‘pushing to expand’ AI use
Next Generation Newsroom reports, “Pennsylvania is pushing to expand the use of artificial intelligence tools in government agencies….” As part of a pilot program, the Shapiro administration bought a $108,000 ChatGPT license. Per the administration, “The most frequent uses of ChatGPT among employees in the pilot [program] were tasks like writing assistance, research, brainstorming, and summarizing large amounts of text or data….” The story notes, however, that “experts warn that AI, particularly generative AI — which outputs text, images, and even videos based on prompts users put in — poses a host of risks and ethical considerations. Generative AI has a tendency to create falsehoods and present them as facts, a process known as hallucinating.”
Democrats’ voter registration crisis
I’ve often shared stories on Pennsylvania’s shrinking voter registration gap between Democrats and Republicans. But a new analysis shows the Dems’ voter registration crisis extends far beyond Pennsylvania. The New York Times reports, “Of the 30 states that track voter registration by political party, Democrats lost ground to Republicans in every single one between the 2020 and 2024 elections — and often by a lot. That four-year swing toward the Republicans adds up to 4.5 million voters, a deep political hole that could take years for Democrats to climb out from.”