News & Brews October 27, 2025
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Taxpayers to spend $1M on Shapiro’s private home
Spotlight PA reports that taxpayers are set to spend about $1 million on security upgrades to Gov. Josh Shapiro’s private home in Montgomery County. A spokesperson for Shapiro “said the State Police conducted a security review of the governor’s personal residence and recommended a number of improvements. Before carrying out any of those improvements … the administration ‘consulted the Ethics Commission … to ensure there is no improper private, pecuniary gain from these security improvements.’” The spending has raised questions, including from Republican state Sen. Jarrett Coleman, who chairs the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee and who called the undertaking “unprecedented.”
Pa. ranks 8th in highest state and local debt
A new report from the Reason Foundation found that “state and local governments had $6.1 trillion in debt at the end of 2023.” This is on top of the $38 trillion national debt. In terms of per-capita burden, the state and local amount breaks down to about $18,400 per American. And Pennsylvania ranks 8th highest in aggregate state and local debt at $194.58 billion.
Fetterman’s ‘fundraising woes’
We knew that the minute U.S. Sen. John Fetterman decided support Israel and engage in conversation with President Trump, the far-Left progressives of his party—who now pretty much control the entire party—would turn on him. And that’s showing up in his campaign fundraising. WESA reports that “Fetterman’s third quarter haul is his lowest fundraising total over a three-month stretch since he announced his candidacy for office in February 2021. From the beginning of July to the end of September, Fetterman’s campaign raised just under $330,000 and spent a little less than $575,000…. At this point in 2024, his campaign raised $2.85 million, which is double the amount of his current 2025 totals. During Fetterman’s successful run in 2022, he was a prolific fundraiser, bringing in $73.9 million….”
7 charged in Pa. voter registration fraud
On Friday, Pa. Attorney General Dave Sunday announced criminal charges against 7 individuals “regarding numerous voter registration forms that contained falsified information and were submitted in multiple counties prior to the 2024 General Election.” Per Sunday, “the motive behind these crimes was personal financial gain, and not a conspiracy or organized effort to tip any election for any one candidate or party.” The company who employed the voter registration organizer is Field + Media Corps, which PennLive reports was funded by Everybody Votes. This group in turn, is a program of the Voter Registration Project, which, per InfluenceWatch, “is run by individuals with long-standing connections to left-of-center non-profits.”
Shapiro ‘dodges key issue’ in VA governor’s race
Gov. Shapiro headed down to Virginia over the weekend to campaign for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger, but “despite his strong track record in condemning political violence, he declined to call for Jay Jones—the Democrat attorney general candidate who fantasized about shooting his political opponent—to drop out of the race,” the Daily Signal reports. Instead, Shapiro’s spokesperson condemned Jones’ comments “but declined to answer whether he would call on Jones to drop out of the race or refuse to take the job of attorney general if elected.” Meanwhile, Virginia isn’t Shapiro’s only out-of-state stop as the state budget remains unfinished. Pa. Senate President Pro Tempore Kim Ward gave us a rundown of his North American Tour 2025.