5 Former Pennsylvania Governors Request More Security for Gov. Shapiro

A bipartisan group of five former Pennsylvania governors urged state leaders on April 27 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.

“This weekend, the President faced yet another assassination attempt,” the statement reads. “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 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 came three days after the state treasurer announced that she could not approve the payments because there was no legal authority for taxpayer money to go toward property not owned by the state.

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 2025, 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,” Coleman said in a December 9 statement announcing the subpoenas. “Are we just going to give every future governor a blank check to spend on security without any oversight?”

The debate escalated last week. Pennsylvania 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.

Shapiro’s office painted Garrity’s decision as political, said her position had no “legal basis,” and said that state police were exploring options to ensure that contractors get paid.

In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Garrity said she agreed with the former governors that violence and threats against public officials are unacceptable, but maintained that the Treasury could not legally pay for security upgrades on private property.

“I agree with our former governors on one fundamental point: violence and threats against public officials have no place in our country,” Garrity said. 

“What happened to the Governor and his family was deeply disturbing, just as the recent assassination attempt on the president is unacceptable. These are not partisan issues—they are matters of basic safety and the rule of law.”

Garrity said her duties as treasurer are limited by law and that paying for upgrades to a personal residence would conflict with responsibilities defined in the state constitution. She said security upgrades have already been made to the governor’s private home.

“That is not a political judgment, it is a legal constraint that applies regardless of who holds office,” she said. “It’s important to note that security upgrades have already been made to the Governor’s private home—this isn’t about the improvements, it’s about having the legal authority to pay the bills and that simply does not exist.”

Garrity said she did not read the former governors’ statement as directed at her or at the legal prohibition on using taxpayer dollars for upgrades to the governor’s personal home.

“I do however believe that they are suggesting that politics should never play a role in decisions of security for the Governor or any elected official and on that we all agree,” she said. 

“In that same narrative, we can take threats seriously and support security without disregarding the legal boundaries that govern how public funds are spent.”

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 the April 25 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.”

Acting U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on April 26 that the suspect “set out to target folks that work in the administration, likely including the president.”

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 that he hated Shapiro and said he would have attacked the governor with a hammer if he had found him, according to court documents.

Balmer pleaded guilty in October to all charges, including attempted murder, terrorism, 22 counts of arson, and 21 counts of reckless endangerment. He was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison and will not be eligible for parole until April 13, 2050.

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.

Aldgra Fredly, Jack Phillips, Chris Summers, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.