HARRISBURG, Pa. — In 2024, Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro could face a more complicated second year in charge of Pennsylvania, after his first year brought a highway collapse, budget gridlock and friction with allies and adversaries as he continues navigated the political divisions of the embattled state.
He is under pressure to respond to a court ruling that Pennsylvania's system for funding public schools unconstitutionally discriminates against poorer districts.
His administration must also oversee the presidential election that was marred four years ago by a barrage of right-wing conspiracy theories, Donald Trump-linked efforts in court to overturn it and threats against election administrators.
And Shapiro, seen nationally as a rising political star, must navigate the nation's only politically divided legislature where both allies and opponents are wary of him.
In his first year as president, Shapiro proved to be a quiet player who took a hands-off approach in the statehouse and tried to avoid political fights he might not win.
He often emphasized the need to win approval from both the Democratic-controlled House and the Republican-controlled Senate, focusing more on what his administration had accomplished – what he called a “get stuff done” administration – rather on more far-reaching agenda items that are stuck in a partisan stalemate.
In 2024, Shapiro will have few opportunities to demonstrate how he will handle calls from public school advocates to propose billions of new dollars for the poorest public schools.
“I am very aware of the Commonwealth Court ruling and that we need to have more equality in our system. I'm also very aware that someone has to pay for that,” Shapiro recently told The Associated Press in an interview at his office.
A compromise deal could require Democrats to accept something they just defeated: a new $100 million taxpayer-funded voucher program to subsidize tuition at private and religious schools.
Republican lawmakers are reluctant to boost public school spending by billions of dollars. But they are following Shapiro in pushing for a voucher program — a position that made Shapiro unique among Democratic governors in the US.
Shapiro's administration will face national scrutiny in the fall for how it conducts the presidential election, when Pennsylvania is once again expected to play a crucial role in the White House's interests.
The state remains in Trump's crosshairs after he and Republican allies there tried to overturn Biden's 2020 victory and Trump declared that “bad things” are happening in Philadelphia.
Last month in Iowa, Trump told his supporters to “monitor the vote” and “go to Detroit, Philadelphia and Atlanta to” watch those votes as they come in.
Shapiro — who as attorney general played a central role in defending Pennsylvania's 2020 election against Republican efforts in court to overturn it — said administration officials have been meeting for months.
They are preparing on legal, law enforcement and election administration fronts “to deliver elections that everyone, regardless of candidate choice, can have confidence in,” Shapiro told AP. “That is one of our most serious responsibilities.”
The elections are probably close.
Complicating matters is a state law that prohibits counties from processing mail-in ballots before Election Day — raising the specter of a recount in Pennsylvania like the one in 2020 that provided a window into Trump-inspired conspiracy theories and false claims.
Nearly every other state allows mail-in ballots to be processed before Election Day. In Pennsylvania, Republican lawmakers have refused to allow this without adding other election-related changes that Democrats oppose.
For its part, Shapiro's administration responded skillfully to the collapse of a critical section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia and the derailment of tanker trucks carrying toxic chemicals just across the Ohio-Pennsylvania state line.
Still, deal-making in the statehouse wasn't necessarily Shapiro's forte.
A budget deal Shapiro struck with Republican lawmakers was met with stiff opposition from Democrats. Shapiro then angered Republicans when he withdrew, causing a standoff over spending normally made in June.
Lawmakers and Shapiro finalized loose ends last month by sharply expanding subsidies for childcare and private schools, among other things.
But Shapiro's hands-off approach in the statehouse drew complaints from both sides. Shapiro attributes such complaints to finger-pointing over partisan food fights.
“I don't run the legislature, do I?” Shapiro told reporters at a news conference last month. “I mean, we're separate branches of this government. … Our legislatures have to figure out how to show up for work and then they have to figure out how to work together.
He will enter 2024 as the only U.S. governor with a politically divided Legislature after a Democratic victory in the Virginia House of Representatives.
Still, it could be an advantage for Shapiro: Democrats in the House of Representatives block Republican bills that Shapiro could otherwise veto, while Republicans in the Senate block Democratic bills that are too progressive for Shapiro's political instincts.
Shapiro brushes off that suggestion.
“I'm a little concerned with the cards I've been dealt,” Shapiro told the AP. “I've really focused on finding those areas where I can find common ground between the two leaders, especially in the Senate and the House, and seeing where we can find the intersections that will allow me to bring something forward that we can achieve.”
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Follow Marc Levy at http://twitter.com/timelywriter.