What to know about Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and the alleged arson at his official residence
Police call arson a planned attack
Balmer apparently scaled an iron security fence that stands around 7 feet (2.1 meters) and is monitored by security cameras, police said.
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Police became aware someone had climbed over the fence and began a pursuit on the grounds but initially didn't locate anyone.
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Police allege Balmer broke into the southern wing of the residence, entering a room often used to entertain crowds and display art, and set a fire using a homemade incendiary device. Police declined to elaborate on the device, but the fire left significant damage to the room, charring walls, tables, buffet serving dishes, plates and a piano. Window panes and brick around doors and windows were blackened.
Balmer was inside for around a minute before he left and escaped the premises, authorities said.
Suspect faces charges
Authorities said Balmer will face charges of attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson and aggravated assault.
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Balmer has faced criminal charges over the past decade including simple assault, theft and forgery, according to online court records. He drew a sentence of probation after guilty pleas to theft and forgery counts. Simple assault charges from 2023 appeared unresolved.
Authorities did not say whether Balmer has a lawyer or where he was being held. Calls to people believed to be his relatives went unanswered or unreturned on Sunday. One recent residence listed for him in Harrisburg was condemned in 2022.
Governor is a rising Democratic star
Shapiro, 51, is the first-term governor of the nation's fifth-most populous state, a presidential battleground that has helped make him a rising star in the Democratic Party and viewed as a potential White House contender in 2028.
Shapiro said he, his wife, their four children, two dogs and another family had celebrated Passover at the residence on Saturday and were awakened by state troopers pounding on their doors at about 2 a.m. Sunday.
Shapiro has been outspoken about his Jewish faith.
He used his first ad in his campaign for governor in 2022 to tell family stories and describe his commitment to making 'it home Friday night for Sabbath dinner,' complete with footage of him and his children at the table.
'Family and faith ground me,' he said.
In stump speeches and his election-night victory speech, Shapiro regularly quoted an ancient rabbinic maxim: 'No one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it.'
Attack happened during Passover
The attack happened on the Jewish holiday of Passover, which began at sundown Saturday.
The holiday commemorates the Israelites' liberation from slavery in ancient Egypt, including their 40-year journey through the desert. It is one of the holiest days of the year for Jews and is celebrated with a special meal called a Seder, which includes the eating of matzah, a type of unleavened bread, and the retelling of the Exodus story.
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Shapiro had celebrated with a Seder at the official residence with his family and members of the Jewish community in the same room where authorities said the fire was set.
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USA Today
11 minutes ago
- USA Today
An order arrest Texas Democrats
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The Hill
11 minutes ago
- The Hill
Texas showdown: Warrants, expulsion threats ratchet up fight
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Washington Post
12 minutes ago
- Washington Post
Can Democrats play Republicans' game?
Good morning, Early Birds. Send tips to earlytips@ Thanks for waking up with us. In today's edition … How feasible are Democratic efforts to resist Republican redistricting? … You share your thoughts on the value of a college education … but first … The fight over redistricting is reaching a fever pitch. Republicans in Texas are threatening to oust their Democratic peers if they don't come back to the state and vote on a partisan congressional map, and Democrats are threatening to throw out Republican districts in states they control. It's a fight-fire-with-fire moment. Gone are the days of Democrats sticking to procedure to signal against Republican advances — as Michelle Obama once put it: 'When they go low, we go high.' Now, Democrats want to match Republicans at their own game. The question is: Can they? It'll take a lot of effort, money and time to match what's underway in Texas. To catch us all up, the Texas legislature revealed a new congressional map for the state last week that creates five new Republican seats. The map is advancing through the state House, where lawmakers recently voted it out of committee. Democratic lawmakers fled the state to Illinois in a bid to break quorum, grinding the legislature to a halt. Texas law prohibits the legislature from conducting business without a minimum of two thirds of lawmakers present. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to arrest Democrats who left town and even unseat them if they didn't get back to Austin by yesterday afternoon. The drama has presented Democrats with a test. The party's base regularly peppers its lawmakers with demands to be more aggressive against the MAGA movement. Party leaders recognize the stakes and have gone all in on countering Texas's efforts with redistricting in blue states to create more Democratic seats. DNC Party Chair Ken Martin endorsed the plan early, as did House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. 'I'm tired of fighting this fight with my hand tied behind my back. With all due respect to the good government groups, politics is a political process,' New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said at a news conference yesterday. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), the earliest and most vocal proponent for creating new blue seats, faces structural hurdles that Texans do not. California has a nonpartisan commission that creates congressional districts, unlike in Texas, where the legislature gets first dibs at district lines. (Texas also has a redistricting board, but its members are partisan state-level officials, and it activates only when the legislature can't figure out a map.) Newsom said he's willing to blow past the commission and call a special election this fall to create a new map with more blue seats. If he could pull it off, his state could yield more wins for Democrats than Texas plans to deliver for Republicans. Of the 52 California districts, only nine are represented by Republicans, four of which are considered competitive. Newsom teased a possible map with all blue seats, giving it an eyes emoji. 'Buckle up, Donald Trump,' Newsom posted on X. 'California is about to get a whole lot bluer, thanks to you.' Other states could enter the fray. Hochul said yesterday that she was exploring 'every option to redraw our congressional lines as soon as possible.' But New York also gives redistricting responsibility to a constitutionally empowered commission. New York Democrats introduced a constitutional amendment last week in Albany that would let the state redraw district lines if another state redrew its lines, but that would not go into effect in time for next year's midterms. New York has 26 seats, of which seven are controlled by Republicans. One of those seats, the 17th District, represented by Mike Lawler, is a major target for Democrats this cycle. 'Here in New York, we will not stand on the sidelines with the timid souls on the sidelines who don't care and will not invest their heart and soul into this battle,' Hochul said during a news conference. 'This is a war. We are at war, and that's why the gloves are off. And I say, bring it on with that.' Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) also said redrawing district lines was on the table, during a news conference yesterday with the Texas lawmakers. Illinois draws its district lines much as Texas does — state lawmakers pass maps out of the legislature. Pritzker has been talking with Texas Democrats for well over a month, meeting with the caucus leaders and Texas Democratic Party Chair Kendall Scudder in June in preparation for a possible redistricting effort. But there's not a ton more that Illinois Democrats can do. Illinois Republicans assert the map is wildly gerrymandered as is. Only three of the 17 seats are represented by Republicans. Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Colorado, Arizona, Maryland and New Jersey all have Democratic governors, legislatures and at least one Republican-held congressional seat. Of those, Washington, Colorado and Arizona all do redistricting by commission. Oregon, Nevada and Maryland redistrict by their legislatures, but each have only one Republican seat to spare. New Jersey has three Republican seats out of its 12 and does redistricting by a partisan commission. There is some historical tension here. Nearly a decade ago, the en vogue position within Democratic politics was that independent redistricting commissions were needed in each state to prevent partisan gerrymandering. That was the genesis of the National Democratic Redistricting Council, the group led by former attorney general Eric Holder and backed by former president Barack Obama. Since its founding in 2017, the group has successfully advocated for independent redistricting commissions in Colorado and Michigan, highlighting how Democrats had backed the same independent bodies that are now restraining their efforts to combat President Donald Trump and Republicans. John Bisognano, president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, told us that independent commissions, especially at the national level, remain the end goal and best outcome for fair maps. There is no disconnect in the way some Democrats are railing against independent redistricting commissions, he said, adding that if he were a voter in California, he would vote for Newsom's plan to go around the independent body. 'Independent commissions remain the goal, and once Democrats win power, we need to use that power to enact policies that will help us rebuild and strengthen a deeply damaged democracy, including banning partisan gerrymandering and requiring all states to draw the maps using independent commissions,' he said. The GOP could also expand its redistricting efforts beyond Texas. Republicans control both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly and the governor's mansion and have two Democratic districts among eight seats. Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin said Friday it was 'likely' that lawmakers would have a special session to draw more Republican seats. Ohio is scheduled to redraw its congressional districts this year because of long-standing rules ahead of next year's primary elections. Five of its 15 seats are controlled by Democrats now, and Republicans control both chambers of the legislature and the governor's mansion. Counter-redistricting isn't the only form of resistance Democrats are pursuing. They could also sue Texas on racial gerrymandering grounds. While the Supreme Court largely left it up to the states to regulate partisan gerrymandering, a racial gerrymander would run afoul of the Voting Rights Act. The party has begun accusing the legislature of drawing a racist map, pointing out that the Democrats likely to lose their seats represent majority-minority districts. Republicans reject the accusation that the map is racially motivated. Democrats have also played on congressional Republicans' concerns that drawing new maps would mean taking some of their conservative voters out of their districts, making their seats competitive again. Democrats promised to challenge any newly vulnerable Republicans with nationally funded campaigns. 'I've heard from a lot of folks who would be excited to run or support folks running because they want to stand against what Republicans are doing,' Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chair Suzan DelBene told us recently, before the map was released. 'They should be very careful what they ask for.' But the proposed map proved underwhelming for Democrats in that regard. Every Republican incumbent would still have a district that went for Trump by a double-digit margin. Former representative Beto O'Rourke, the Texas Democrat who ran a near-upset campaign against Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, urged supporters to raise money for state legislators to stay out of Texas. They face possible arrest and a $500 fine for every day they are out of session. DelBene and members of Congress denied involvement in any fundraising efforts, but some appeared supportive of them. 'Our democracy is priceless,' Rep. Julie Johnson, a former Texas House member whose congressional seat could be jeopardized by the proposed map, told us. 'Whatever it costs is whatever it costs.' Abbott said funding the Democratic lawmakers would amount to bribery. 'It seems to me that the only way some of the fleeing Democrats can avoid bribery charges is to not break quorum,' he posted on X. 'It seems that would eliminate any potential quid pro quo connected to any payment they received to deny a quorum and skip a vote.' State lawmakers are also banned from using campaign funds to pay the fines. Waiting out the special session in Illinois has its flaws, too. For one, Abbott could simply call another special session after this one and start the song and dance all over again. The legislature also has business unrelated to redistricting that it must get to, including recovery efforts from the devastating Central Texas floods. Abbott is threatening to go nuclear to get the legislature running again. He said he would replace absent members under a never-before-tested legal opinion that says it falls under his authority to call elections to fill legislative vacancies. 'They're leaving, and they've left because they're very un-Texan,' Abbott said on Fox News yesterday. 'Texans don't run from a fight.' The Minnesota Star Tribune: State judges found a novel way to cope with their heavy workload: A band. They call themselves the Reasonable Doubts. The Salt Lake Tribune (Utah): Republican spending cuts for public broadcasting had well-publicized consequences for NPR and PBS. Another affected group is independent filmmakers in Utah. CalMatters (California): A bill in California could ban ride-hailing apps from monitoring your phone's battery health to charge you higher fares. Your insights on whether a college degree is still worth it were very interesting. Most said, yes, college was still worth it, but both the institutions and students need to change to address the gaping affordability gap in college education right now. 'I can definitely understand the frustration at the seemingly worthlessness of a college degree. I am increasingly seeing a disconnect from what young people are promised and economic reality,' wrote Jonathon Correll, proposing that the colleges should be 'responsible for paying 80% of the monthly student loan while a graduate is unemployed' and that each institution's endowment should be taxed 'at 15% if at least 10%' if that money is not spent on scholarships. Jack Wells said he has long thought that 'the Democratic Party has put too much emphasis on making it easier to get a college education and not enough on honoring and helping to pay for vocational educations.' 'Everybody in politics and the media talks about Pell Grants for college, but who talks about funding for the Perkins Act, which provides federal funds for vocational education?' Wells asked. 'This is a fault of the news media just as much as it is of the Democratic Party. Democratic politicians should be showing up at graduation exercises for trade schools and honoring the people who graduate from them.' And Patricia Reardon added that while she does 'not regret' majoring in biology and fine visual arts at a liberal arts college 60 years ago, 'financially, it makes little MONETARY sense when someone spends $30,000+ a year for 4 years to get a degree which will not enable the graduate to make more than someone who spend less time or cash completing trade school. … But what has been lost? Could trade schools add wisps of cultural tidbits to round out the experience? Would participants want it? I personally feel society as a whole would benefit.' We plan to write about the Maine Senate race later this week. Only four states are represented by senators from different parties — Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Vermont and Maine. According to the University of Minnesota, that is 'the lowest number of split delegation states in the history of the direct election era.' In 2011, the Senate had 19 split-delegation states. Is something lost with the Senate's decreasing split delegations? Does a state benefit from having senators from different parties? Why do you think this number has hit historic lows? Send us your thoughts at earlytips@ or at and Thanks for reading. You can follow Dan and Matthew on X: @merica and @matthewichoi.
