News & Brews October 3, 2025
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Garrity’s ‘fast start challenge’ to Shapiro is ‘rare and noteworthy’
PennLive’s John Baer writes, “A number of things about Republican Stacy Garrity’s very early out-of-the-gate bid to unseat Gov. Josh Shapiro next year are striking.” She’s already announced her candidacy, secured the GOP endorsement, and done a statewide tour. “Plus, she offered a sensible idea in the middle of a mired and idea-challenged budget impasse: a $500 million pool of low-interest Treasury loans for counties and Head Start programs most in need, with possible subsequent interest forgiveness. An actual, workable idea. All this suggests a serious campaign against Shapiro….”
Pa. Coalition for Civil Justice Reform releases Retention Guide
The Pennsylvania Coalition for Civil Justice Reform, “a statewide bipartisan group of organizations and individuals representing businesses, health care, public service, taxpayers and other perspectives” and focused on “elevating awareness of civil justice issues,” has released its Retention Guide for this November’s state Supreme Court judicial elections. The educational guide looks at what’s at stake, the trend of expanding liability in civil cases, the justices’ voting records on liability expansion, and more.
Over objections, Philly raises Communist Chinese flag
Some things are just so ridiculous, it’s hard to believe they’re true. This week, Philadelphia officials raised the flag of Communist China and allowed it to fly over City Hall. The event was part of Philly’s “Honors Diversity Flag Raising Program,” run by the city’s Office of Immigrant Affairs. But it’s one thing to celebrate Chinese immigrants who make the fabric of America so much richer. It’s quite another to raise the flag of a communist regime. U.S. Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, who chairs the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, had sent a letter to Mayor Cherelle Parker, writing “The city where America declared independence and that all people have the unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, should not raise the flag of an authoritarian regime represented by the Chinese Communist Party, which denies those freedoms to its own people.”
Shapiro gives $250K to Pa. Dem Party
A day after news broke that one of Shapiro’s top staffers was leaving his administration to take a leadership post at the Pa. Democratic Party, Shapiro announced that he’s giving $250,000 to the party. This is hardly the Dems’ largest one-time donation in recent years. Per campaign finance reports, that came from Karla Jurvetson, a Democrat mega-donor from California who gave a $900,000 donation to the party in 2020. Per a spokesperson, Shapiro’s donation is meant “to ensure the Pennsylvania Democratic Party has the infrastructure it needs to reach voters and win in 2025, 2026, and beyond.”
‘The Dems’ class gap problem’
Ruy Teixeira of the Liberal Patriot writes that Democrats’ “yawning working-class hole in their coalition” isn’t going away. Recent polling ‘“crystallizes [the] chasm in attitudes between white working-class and college voters.” While the latter by 27 points think Trump is “creating chaos,” the former by 25 points say he’s “getting rid of chaos.” Teixeira writes that Democrats are “not unaware their party is increasingly a vehicle for educated professionals, whose priorities are quite different and frequently opposed to those of vast sectors of the working class. They’re just not willing to do much about it….”