“Josh from Juniata” is on the ballot this fall and could be again in 2028, staking his claim as a sports fanatic in a battleground state where sports can go where politics can’t.
It’s the pseudonym that Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro has turned to when calling into sports radio, seeking a few moments to shed the trappings of a big-state governorship and be one of the guys, talking Sixers, Eagles and Phillies.
Mr. Shapiro, part of a crowded field of likely Democratic presidential hopefuls, has found in sports a way to connect and establish authenticity across party lines and even across franchise lines, which can be an even deeper divide.
Mr. Shapiro leaned into that persona Tuesday in an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show” alongside Ultimate Fighting Championship President and CEO Dana White, an outspoken Trump supporter, to announce that a championship bout, UFC 330, is coming to Philadelphia in August. It will be the first UFC championship bout in the city in 15 years.
“You cannot bulls—- your way through sports,” Mr. Shapiro told reporters in December 2024 before a football matchup between his state’s two pro teams, the Eagles and Steelers. “Frankly, Yinzers” — die-hard Pittsburgh sports fans — “might not be happy with me on Sunday, but I think they respect the fact you stay true to yourself and honest about your allegiances.”
Former Rep. Conor Lamb said that in an era where people “tune out typical politicians,” this low-stakes creativity is how Mr. Shapiro breaks through.
“It humanizes him,” said Mr. Lamb, a Democrat. “This is clearly something that he authentically likes. It’s obviously not fake.”
Others aren’t buying it. Critics ask: Why call into a show under an alias, only to advertise it later?
Charlie Gerow, a Pennsylvania-based Republican strategist, said it smacks of unyielding political ambition.
“Josh Shapiro tries to lean into anything that he thinks will provide him a temporary political advantage,” Mr. Gerow said. “There’s nothing authentic about Josh Shapiro.”
George Allen, a former college football quarterback who went on to become Virginia governor and a U.S. senator, and who regularly tossed the pigskin on the campaign trail, saw Mr. Shapiro’s sports embrace as shrewd politics.
“It shows a side of him beyond policy talk,” he said. “It’s not some ordinary politician. It relates to normal people who are not politically obsessed, and it shows a personality rather than someone reading a monotone, scripted speech.”
Mr. Shapiro is considered a top-tier contender for the Democratic presidential nomination. His appeal is based in part on his ability to be elected in a state that Mr. Trump won in 2016 and 2024. First, he must win reelection this year. He is the heavy favorite in a matchup against state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a Republican.
Mr. Allen, a Republican, said he liked Mr. Shapiro’s move to appear with Mr. White, who introduced Mr. Trump at the 2024 Republican nominating convention and has worked with the president to bring a UFC fight to the White House this summer.
“You can’t win with just your own party,” Mr. Allen said. “You need independents, and you’ve got to get a few on the other side. Any Democrat who would criticize him for showing up with someone who’s friends with Trump — that’s a net plus for Shapiro.”
Mr. McAfee, a Pittsburgh native, praised Mr. Shapiro for his willingness to appear on his show with Mr. White, who often is “considered some far-right guy.”
“First off, Pat, I’m here because you are a yinzer, man,” Mr. Shapiro said. “Look, Dana and I might have some political differences, but we both understand the power of UFC, we understand the power of sports to bring people together.”
Mr. Allen, meanwhile, warned there are pitfalls to be wary of when politicians play up their sports fandom.
“Sports fans are judgmental,” he said. “So long as he actually knows what he’s talking about, it’s fine. But if he said something demonstrably wrong, they’d say, ‘What is this idiot doing on here? He doesn’t know what he’s talking about.’”
Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas Republican, learned that lesson during the 2016 presidential campaign when he tried to impress Indiana voters with his basketball knowledge before referring to the hoop as a “basketball ring.”
Then there is former Sen. John Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, who is on the Mount Rushmore of cautionary sports tales.
In 2004, he raised eyebrows in Wisconsin by mangling the name of the revered Packers stadium, calling Lambeau Field “Lambert Field.” Vice President Dick Cheney seized on the gaffe. “I thought after John Kerry’s visit here I’d visit Lambert Field,” Mr. Cheney quipped. “The next thing is he’ll be convinced Vince Lombardi is a foreign leader.”
While Mr. Kerry was trying to shed the aura of a wealthy New Englander, his $8,000 bicycle and penchant for kitesurfing drew more snickers than admiration.
Mr. Kerry compounded his troubles at Fenway Park that year. He bounced the ceremonial first pitch during a Boston Red Sox-New York Yankees game. He later insisted he had held back out of deference to the National Guard soldier and Iraq War veteran standing in as catcher.
Mr. Kerry told reporters, “He was very nervous. I tried to lob it gently.”
The problem was that Mr. Kerry was running against President George W. Bush, who three years earlier delivered a perfect strike from the mound at Yankee Stadium during Game 3 of the 2001 World Series, just weeks after the 9/11 attacks that killed nearly 3,000 people.
Mr. Shapiro, by most accounts, tends more toward Mr. Bush than Mr. Kerry.
At the Pittsburgh Pirates’ home opener in 2023, Mr. Shapiro threw out the ceremonial first pitch to Thomas Lamb, Mr. Lamb’s father and a PNC Bank executive.” The verdict?
“He had some real heat on the ball,” Mr. Lamb said his father recalled.
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