Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is using his book tour and 2026 reelection campaign to further build out a national fundraising network that could prove quite useful in a potential 2028 run.

The governor held a fundraising event over lunch while visiting Massachusetts for his book tour last month, two people familiar with the planning for it confirmed — making it at least the third fundraiser he attended in the last year in the deep-blue state with deep-pocketed donors who have long bankrolled presidential contenders. One of the others was held at the home of Jewish philanthropist and New England Patriots president Jonathan Kraft in April, details of which have not previously been reported. Shapiro attended another on Nantucket, a summer fundraising mecca, in July, according to an attendee and invitations obtained by Blue Light News.

They add to an extensive list of networking events for the possible White House aspirant who’s long been a prolific fundraiser within and beyond Pennsylvania.

He amassed $23 million in 2025 with the help of $2.5 million from former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg; $1 million from a Soros family PAC, $500,000 from James and Kathryn Murdoch, the left-leaning son and daughter in law of Rupert Murdoch; and over $120,000 from Kraft and his father, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. That’s helped him build a $30 million war chest to unleash this year against his likely GOP opponent, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who raised nearly $1.5 million last year and had $1 million in the bank to start 2026.

His book tour side-hustle comes as several of Shapiro’s would-be rivals for the Democratic nomination in 2028 take donor meetings across the country as they navigate their own reelection bids and start laying the groundwork for White House runs.

Shapiro routinely dismisses talk of 2028 in public, keeping a laser focus on his reelection bid and on his efforts to help Democrats down the ballot.

“No one should be looking past these midterms,” the governor recently told reporters in Washington, D.C., who were peppering him with hypotheticals.

Sources say he is just as disciplined behind closed doors: Shapiro has kept his pitch focused on his leadership in purple Pennsylvania and how Democrats should be centering pocketbook issues in the midterms, while declining to engage with questions about his future beyond 2026, according to two people who attended donor events with Shapiro last year.

“The smartest thing Shapiro and other folks on the ballot in 2026 can do right now is say ‘I’m running for reelection right now and I’m in the middle of the fight.’ [It] makes ‘26 a nice little audition for their eventual 2028 runs,” said Alex Hoffman, a Democratic strategist and donor adviser.

His out-of-state networking is already paying off. Shapiro raked in over $700,000 from prominent donors in Massachusetts alone in 2025, including $260,000 from construction magnate John Fish and $50,000 from telecommunications tycoon Robert Hale. He also hauled in cash from Hollywood bigwigs and tech titans, including $100,000 from Sony film executive Tom Rothman and $200,000 from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen.

But the governor’s expansive donor pool is also drawing scrutiny. Garrity has called on Shapiro to return over $2 million his campaign has taken over the years from billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who is referenced repeatedly in the Jeffrey Epstein files. Hoffman gave $500,000 to Shapiro last year. Shapiro also received $50,000 from New York Giants co-owner Steve Tisch, who is also mentioned in the Epstein files, as is Robert Kraft. Both Hoffman and Tisch have issued statements distancing themselves from the late convict.

“Stacy Garrity should stop playing politics with the Epstein files. Donald Trump is mentioned in the files over 5,000 times. Is she going to ask him to rescind his endorsement?” Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder said in a statement. Bonder declined comment on the governor’s fundraisers.

He’ll need to keep building out that network. Shapiro has benefited from what longtime Pennsylvania Democratic strategist Neil Oxman described as “institutional donors” in the state who’ve given to successive Democratic governors. But of “the thousands of people who raise money nationally, he probably knows a fraction of them. He has some [national] recognition, but he’s not Gavin Newsom. He’s not the Clintons.”

Shapiro also won’t be able to use the gobs of money he’s raised for his state campaign account to fund a run for federal office, leaving him at an initial disadvantage against other potential 2028ers who are already squirreling away millions of dollars into federal leadership committees, super PACs and congressional campaign accounts that can be converted when the time comes.

“That’s why sometimes it’s hard to run for office when you have to run for another office,” Oxman said.

A version of this article first appeared in Blue Light News Pro’s Morning Score. Want to receive the newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to Blue Light News Pro. You’ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day’s biggest stories.

Rahm Emanuel is embarking on a three-day swing through the crucial swing-state of Michigan this weekend. But he’s not just dropping in to help boost down-ballot Democratic candidates — he’s also visiting some trade schools to unveil yet another policy proposal.

The moves raise the question: Is he presenting the planks of a larger platform that he can run on for president? Or is he headfaking a run to build buzz and draw interest to his ideas, redirecting the field to where he thinks the party’s intellectual center of gravity should be?

“I’m going to continue to lay out changes — reforms — that I think address the challenges Americans are facing today. And that is how to get an education that affords and ensures access to the American dream,” Emanuel said in an interview when asked about his motivations.

His latest plan is aimed at helping military service members transition back to civilian life through the skilled trades.

The proposal would give 20,000 departing service members a $10,000 tax-free sign-on bonus to enroll in a registered apprenticeship to become electricians, carpenters, plumbers and construction workers over a five-year period. The $200 million plan would be paid for by eliminating a tax “giveaway” from President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act for private colleges, Emanuel said.

“We do a signing bonus of $50,000 to go into ICE and become a lawless mob, yet we have people that have the potential to be a carpenter, electrician, a pipe fitter, an operating engineer, a laborer, and we don’t do anything,” said Emanuel.

His plan is his fourth policy rollout in almost as many months, and months before the midterm election that most Democrats are focused on, as well as years ahead of what could be a crowded 2028 presidential primary. His other proposals include banning children under 16 from social media; forcing public officials to retire at 75; and boosting literacy. And he has said he is ramping up his 2026travel outside of the coasts to the middle of the country.

Emanuel’s blizzard of white papers stands in contrast to his potential 2028 foes.

Many of Emanuel’s would-be rivals are still in office and can point to concrete governing or legislating proposals. Others eyeing a run who are back in private life have sought different paths, like former Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, who has been traveling and promoting her book, and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigeig, who recently held a Wisconsin town hall and has been making the rounds on the podcast circuit.

But Emanuel, the former U.S. ambassador to Japan, Chicago mayor, White House chief of staff and congressman, doesn’t currently have an official day job to leverage to execute policy changes or get himself noticed. He’s instead spent more time on cable TV and podcasts while developing what amounts to an education policy vision.

“There are some people that want to emphasize the resistance to Donald Trump, and there’s a lot to resist. I am about fighting for America as much as about fighting Donald Trump,” Emanuel said.

He cited several recent moments that have shaped his thinking, including a warning from Michigan-based Ford CEO Jim Farley, who has issued a warning that the U.S. faces a one-million jobs shortage of skilled workers. He also mentioned a private dinner with Dario Amodei, the CEO of the fast-growing AI startup Anthropic. “No AI can destroy these jobs,” Emanuel told Blue Light News.

At one point in explaining his belief in the “power of ideas” to shape politics, Emanuel seemed to suggest the idea of running before catching himself.

“If you’re going to r— think about public life,” he said, redirecting his sentence midstream, “you got to answer these challenges.”