WARMINSTER, PENNSYLVANIA – MAY 19: Governor Josh Shapiro speaks during a Primary Election night event at The Fuge on May 19, 2026 in Warminster, Pennsylvania. Governor Shapiro is running unopposed in the Democratic midterm primary election. (Photo by Matthew Hatcher/Getty Images)
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“What gives me real edge is that I’m not as labour as you lot.” That was former Prime Minister Tony Blair from long ago. Eager to drag the Labour Party out of its low-growth, socialist leaning rut, Blair had the ability to do that exactly because he wasn’t truly Labour.
Some hopeful Democrats view Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in a similar light, as a Democrat who isn’t wholly Democrat. But is that true?
One easy way to judge Shapiro is on the matter of energy policy. Since it’s always “the economy, stupid” when it comes to politics, then by extension it’s always “the energy, stupid” in consideration of how much the economy is reliant on energy abundance to progress. With the latter in mind, it’s troubling to report that Shapiro’s energy stances are much less than inspiring.
When PECO, the largest energy and natural gas utility in Pennsylvania recently announced a 12.5% price hike for Philadelphia and suburban customers, Shapiro didn’t soberly remark about what’s true: that high prices could beget lower prices assuming a reasonable gathering of open minds within the state. Instead, he characterized PECO’s actions as “pure greed.”
In the same month, Shapiro sent a letter to utility heads in which he asked them to justify their equity returns. Two months prior he expressed an interest in capping utility profits.
About each instance in which simple economics was vandalized, it will be said that politicians are politicians. In which case it’s understood that politicians sometimes feel the need to say things that they wouldn’t say as private citizens. Applied to Shapiro, allowances must be made to the fact that every day as governor is a balancing act that requires tending to a wide range of voters.
Just the same, the story about Shapiro is that he’s a different kind of Democrat. Which speaks to the problem with his harassment of Pennsylvania’s utilities: Shapiro has sadly dispensed with any attempts to bridge the gap between both sides. Instead, he’s insulted the state’s utilities with assertions that “greed” drives their business practices, questioned the worth of their equity performance, all while expressing an interest in foisting price controls on them. Sorry, but this isn’t the stuff of a new Democrat.
To see why, contemplate the accepted wisdom on both sides of the economic policy divide that price controls don’t result in lower prices, rather they at best bring on scarcity of the market good decreed cheap. A new Democrat, rather than questioning profits while threatening same, would be engaging the utilities in an attempt to figure out potential barriers within the state to more abundant, lower cost energy.
Shapiro isn’t that Democrat, it seems. Rather than pragmatism, he’s leaning on rhetoric that is neither original nor constructive. Only for the story to get worse.
Under existing Pennsylvania law, utilities aren’t allowed to own and operate electric generation assets. Which means the utilities are bit hamstrung on the matter of bringing new supply to the market. As opposed to creating new energy supply, they’re limited to the energy supply made available by outside producers.
In other words, Shapiro is shooting the messenger, price-giver, or both, rather than pursuing ways to render today’s high prices yesterday’s news. Price controls and browbeating are better politics, or so it seems. Which isn’t very “new Democrat” of a governor with national ambitions in a country that seemingly craves something new.
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