A bipartisan group of five former Pennsylvania governors urged state leaders on Monday to prioritize the security of Gov. Josh Shapiro and his family, days after a gunman breached security at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner and a year after an arsonist set fires inside the Governor's Residence while the Shapiros slept.
The joint statement from Democrats Tom Wolf and Ed Rendell and Republicans Tom Corbett, Mark Schweiker, and Tom Ridge was distributed on April 27 by the office of Shapiro, a Democrat. It mentioned Saturday's incident at the Washington Hilton and the April 13, 2025, arson attack in Harrisburg.
"This weekend, the President faced yet another assassination attempt. Last year, Governor Shapiro and his family faced an unspeakable attack while they were sleeping in the Governor's Residence. Combatting political violence and keeping our elected officials safe should always be nonpartisan and a priority. For us, the attack on Pennsylvania's First Family was particularly upsetting. In the aftermath of that attack we ask the state's current leaders and legislators to make the safety and security of the Governor and his family a priority," the former governors wrote.
The former governors did not address an ongoing dispute in Harrisburg over more than $1 million in state-funded security upgrades at Shapiro's private home, but their statement landed three days after the state treasurer announced she could not approve the payments since there was no legal authority for taxpayer money going toward non-state-owned property.
The funding dispute has been building since last fall. State Sen. Jarrett Coleman, a Republican who chairs the state Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee, said in a statement that he began asking the Shapiro administration about the spending in October, and his committee voted in December to issue subpoenas seeking records related to the work at the governor's private home.
"No administration—Republican or Democrat—should be allowed to operate in the shadows when public funds are involved. Are we just going to give every future governor a blank check to spend on security without any oversight?" Coleman said in a December 9 statement announcing the subpoenas.
The debate escalated this past week. Treasurer Stacy Garrity said in an April 23 letter to State Police Counsel Brendan J. O'Malley that she could not approve payments for more than $1 million in security systems and other upgrades to Shapiro's private home. Garrity told reporters at a news conference that there is no legal authorization to use taxpayer dollars to reimburse contractors for security upgrades on private property, even the private home of a governor.
Garrity, a Republican, is expected to be Shapiro's main opponent in the November gubernatorial election.
The treasurer rejected suggestions that her decision was political. "I don't play these kinds of political games," Garrity said.
Meanwhile, Shapiro's office painted Garrity's decision as political and said her position had no “legal basis," and that state police were exploring options to ensure that contractors get paid.
Correspondents' Dinner Shooting
President Donald Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, and other top administration officials were evacuated from the correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton on April 25 after a gunman breached a security checkpoint near the ballroom and shot a Secret Service agent. Authorities arrested the suspect, Cole Allen, 31, of Torrance, California, at the scene. Allen was allegedly armed with a shotgun, a handgun, and several knives.The bipartisan call from the former governors came alongside Trump’s call for unity after Saturday’s event in his remarks from the White House.
“In light of this evening's events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully,” Trump told reporters. “We have to resolve our differences. I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, Independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives. Those words are interchangeable perhaps, but maybe they're not. But yet everybody in that room—big crowd, record-setting crowd. There was a record-setting group of people—and there was a tremendous amount of love and coming together.”
Arson Attack on Governor’s Residence
The April 2025 attack on Shapiro's official residence took place hours after the family's Passover dinner. Cody Balmer, 38, scaled the perimeter fence of the Governor's Residence, broke windows, and threw homemade Molotov cocktails inside while Shapiro, his wife, their children, and others slept in the private living quarters. Balmer told state troopers he hated Shapiro and said he would have attacked the governor with a hammer if he had found him, according to court documents.Shapiro is widely viewed as a potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate and was considered for the vice presidential slot on Kamala Harris's 2024 ticket.
The former governors did not specify what security measures they want state leaders and lawmakers to adopt.