{"id":18974,"date":"2026-02-13T15:17:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/shapiro-grows-his-donor-network-ahead-of-2028\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T15:17:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T15:17:14","slug":"shapiro-grows-his-donor-network-ahead-of-2028","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/shapiro-grows-his-donor-network-ahead-of-2028\/","title":{"rendered":"Shapiro grows his donor network ahead of 2028"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

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.<\/p>\n

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 \u2014 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>, a summer fundraising mecca, in July, according to an attendee and invitations obtained by Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

They add to an extensive list of networking events for the possible White House aspirant who\u2019s long been a prolific fundraiser within and beyond Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

His book tour side-hustle comes as several of Shapiro\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one should be looking past these midterms,\u201d the governor recently told reporters in Washington, D.C., who were peppering him with hypotheticals.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe smartest thing Shapiro and other folks on the ballot in 2026 can do right now is say \u2018I\u2019m running for reelection right now and I\u2019m in the middle of the fight.\u2019 [It] makes \u201826 a nice little audition for their eventual 2028 runs,\u201d said Alex Hoffman, a Democratic strategist and donor adviser.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

But the governor\u2019s expansive donor pool is also drawing scrutiny. Garrity has called on Shapiro to return over $2 million<\/a> his campaign has taken over the years from billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who is referenced repeatedly in the Jeffrey Epstein files<\/a>. 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<\/a>, as is Robert Kraft<\/a>. Both Hoffman<\/a> and Tisch<\/a> have issued statements distancing themselves from the late convict.<\/p>\n

\u201cStacy 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?\u201d Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder said in a statement. Bonder declined comment on the governor\u2019s fundraisers.<\/p>\n

He’ll need to keep building out that network. Shapiro has benefited from what longtime Pennsylvania Democratic strategist Neil Oxman described as \u201cinstitutional donors\u201d in the state who\u2019ve given to successive Democratic governors. But of \u201cthe thousands of people who raise money nationally, he probably knows a fraction of them. He has some [national] recognition, but he\u2019s not Gavin Newsom. He\u2019s not the Clintons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shapiro also won\u2019t be able to use the gobs of money he\u2019s 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<\/a>, super PACs and congressional campaign accounts that can be converted when the time comes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why sometimes it\u2019s hard to run for office when you have to run for another office,\u201d Oxman said.<\/p>\n

A version of this article first appeared in Blue Light News Pro\u2019s Morning Score. Want to receive the newsletter every weekday? Subscribe to Blue Light News Pro. You\u2019ll also receive daily policy news and other intelligence you need to act on the day\u2019s biggest stories.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18974\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}