Josh Shapiro Earns Major Endorsement In PA Governor's Race

CONSHOHOCKEN, PA — A Montgomery County-based state nurses and healthcare workers union has thrown their support behind Josh Shapiro for governor.

The Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, which has its main office in Conshohocken and represents more than 9,000 frontline nurses and healthcare professionals across the commonwealth, endorsed Shapiro Wednesday on his gubernatorial run.

"Two years into the pandemic, the system that's supposed to support bedside caregivers, and therefore patients, is in crisis. Our workloads have shot through the roof while our staff numbers have dwindled due to burnout and incredibly short-sighted, bottom-line decisions," Maureen May, president of PASNAP and a Temple University hospital nurse, said in a statement. "We are all vulnerable — every Pennsylvanian —which is why we need someone in the governor's office who prioritizes excellence in patient care and the health and safety of frontline caregivers. You cannot separate those things. They go hand in hand, and Josh understands that."

Shapiro, the state's attorney general, and a resident of Abington Township, Montgomery County, is so far the only declared Democrat seeking the governor's office.

In December, he spoke exclusively with Patch about his gubernatorial run.

In supporting Shapiro's run, PASNAP President May said that the candidate has "listened to our stories from the halls of our hospitals. He has heard our pleas for PPE [personal protective equipment], our fears for our patients as bedside staffing has plummeted, and our rising alarm as incidents of workplace violence have skyrocketed in healthcare facilities.

"He has heard and understands our need to work with those at the highest level to improve conditions at the bedside for all patients and all frontline healthcare professionals in Pennsylvania," May continued.

The organization said this is not the first time it has gotten behind Shapiro's political aspirations: it endorsed his run for state attorney general back in 2016 when Shapiro was then a sitting county commissioner. And the group also got behind his attorney general reelection bid in 2020.