While speaking in front of volunteers and local Democratic Party committee members in Dauphin County on Saturday, Gov. Josh Shapiro went on the offensive, taking jabs at President Donald Trump’s primetime speech, which spread misinformation about the upcoming November elections.
“I don’t know if you took the time to watch that crazy-a** speech the other night,” Shapiro said while speaking at the United Association Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 520 union hall.
“This guy is just unhinged. He’s just untethered from reality, and he went on national TV in the White House, he insulted the American people’s intelligence, and he insulted Pennsylvania.”
During his 30-minute speech last week, Trump spread falsehoods about foreign entities, such as China, influencing the 2020 election in order to push the US Senate to pass the SAVE Act, which would force Americans to provide documents when registering to vote and photo ID when voting and could disenfranchise millions of voters in the process.
It would bar US citizens from registering to vote online and force residents to show their birth certificate or passport each time they register to vote.
According to the Center for American Progress, more than 140 million Americans do not have a passport and up to 69 million women may be affected because they took their spouse’s name, leaving their legal name different from the name on their birth certificate.
In his speech, Trump claimed China illegally acquired voter information for nearly 220 million Americans. However, most of that information is publicly available and easily accessible for individuals or organizations to obtain or purchase.
“ He is continuing to attack our elections in Pennsylvania and, really, across the United States, but we have an opportunity to stand up against that and to protect our democracy,” Shapiro said.
With Democrats looking to flip the state Senate and pick up four congressional seats, Pennsylvania Democrats launched their “Rise Up” campaign at the event in Dauphin County on Saturday to help organize support for candidates up and down the ballot.
This includes a county-by-county voter protection plan aimed at ensuring all Pennsylvanians will be able to cast their ballots come Election Day.
“ Back in 2020, when Donald Trump lost the election here in Pennsylvania, he and his enablers went to court and sued [Pennsylvania] 43 different times…to try and throw out your votes, to try and thwart the will of the people here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said.
He added, “Trump went 0 and 43. I went 43 and 0, and we defended your right to vote, and we will again.”
