Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro went on CNN's State of the Union this weekend and did something that passes for bravery in the modern Democratic Party: he acknowledged, out loud, that his party might have a tiny little problem with candidates who want to abolish prisons and open the borders. Someone get this man a participation trophy.
As USA Journal reported, Shapiro was asked about Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly elected Democratic congressional nominee in New York who ran on a platform that includes abolishing prisons, open borders, and ending deportations of violent criminals. Chevalier also attended a pro-Palestinian rally on October 8th, 2023, the day after Hamas killed 1,200 people, a rally that featured antisemitic rhetoric. When pressed on what all of this says about the Democratic Party, Shapiro offered this gem: "What our party has to go through that will be very healthy...is to have a battle over what we believe in."
A battle. Very healthy. Like a juice cleanse, except your party is nominating people who think prisons are optional.
Shapiro, who is Jewish, said he has "profound differences" with Chevalier and wouldn't agree with her on "many things." He then stopped right there. No names called. No lines drawn. No ultimatums issued. Just a calm observation that maybe, perhaps, the party should think about having a conversation at some point about whether abolishing the entire concept of incarceration is a winning message.
This is the political equivalent of watching your house burn down and suggesting the family schedule a meeting to discuss fire safety protocols next quarter.
The problem Shapiro is tiptoeing around is not subtle. Candidates running on abolishing prisons and refusing to deport violent criminals are not getting laughed off primary ballots. They are winning them. The positions that would have gotten you escorted out of a Democratic strategy session ten years ago are now the positions that get you elected to Congress. That is not a fringe movement. That is the new mainstream.
Shapiro and Senator John Fetterman are frequently pointed to as evidence that moderate Democrats still exist. And they do exist. In the same way that payphones still exist. You can find one if you look hard enough, but nobody is building new ones.
The governor clearly understands the diagnosis. He can see that the activist base, the DSA infrastructure, and the primary voters have shifted the party so far left that warning against prison abolition now qualifies as a bold centrist stance. He just cannot bring himself to actually do anything about it beyond offering carefully worded concern on a Sunday morning talk show.
For conservatives, this is the kind of moment where you grab a coffee and a comfortable chair. Watching a sitting governor politely suggest his party should maybe reconsider its enthusiasm for eliminating the criminal justice system is genuinely entertaining television. But the entertainment should not breed complacency. Nobody inside the Democratic Party appears willing to actually fight this battle Shapiro keeps referencing. He diagnosed the disease on national television and then prescribed a vague hope that someone else would handle the treatment.
The socialists are not waiting for a committee vote. They are winning primaries and filling congressional seats. Shapiro sees it. He just does not want to be the one holding the fire extinguisher.
Read more conservative news commentary at: USA Journal News
