Shapiro breaks with Dems on COVID policies in Pa. gov race

By MARC LEVY
Associated Press

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — As attorney general, Josh Shapiro went to court repeatedly to defend Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s administration against legal challenges to his pandemic-era mandates and shutdowns. Now, as he’s running to succeed Wolf as governor, Shapiro says he is against some of the same COVID-19 containment measures that his fellow Democrat used to help manage the nation’s worst pandemic in over a century. On the campaign trail, Shapiro’s Republican opponent, Doug Mastriano, makes Wolf’s COVID-19 policies — and Shapiro’s defense of them — a source of derision. It is unusual, if not unprecedented, for a Democrat to go against some of the core measures that governors used to contain COVID-19.