Late Monday afternoon, on the eve of the presidential election, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, suddenly backed down from his boast on Saturday that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden would win the state. Shapiro had predicted on Saturday, “If all the votes are added up in PA, Trump is going to lose. That’s why he’s working overtime to subtract as many votes as possible from this process. For the record, he’s 0-6 against us in court. We’ve protected voting rights. Now, ignore the noise—vote!”
If all the votes are added up in PA, Trump is going to lose. That’s why he’s working overtime to subtract as many votes as possible from this process.
For the record, he’s 0-6 against us in court. We’ve protected voting rights. Now, ignore the noise—vote!https://t.co/mN8t6TDud7
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) October 31, 2020
But at just before 6 p.m. on Monday, Shapiro meekly submitted this tweet: “In Pennsylvania, we know how to follow the law and run our elections. We’ve done it for centuries. People vote. We add up all the eligible votes. And we the people pick the president.”
In Pennsylvania, we know how to follow the law and run our elections. We've done it for centuries.
People vote. We add up all the eligible votes. And we the people pick the president. pic.twitter.com/paidC6AiBl
— Josh Shapiro (@JoshShapiroPA) November 2, 2020
National Republican Senatorial Committee advisor Matt Whitlock noticed that Shapiro was suddenly blanching, prompting him to tweet, “A bit of a different tone than when you suggested the race was already over. Which somehow @Twitter let stand even though it violates their rules for misinformation that could potentially suppress votes.”
A bit of a different tone than when you suggested the race was already over. Which somehow @Twitter let stand even though it violates their rules for misinformation that could potentially suppress votes. https://t.co/6XgWdkijDp
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) November 2, 2020
As RedState noted, “The note about Twitter there is correct. According to their own pre-election guidelines, no one is supposed to be able to call a state’s race before it has been officially called by one of seven sources, which include the AP and Fox News. Yet, here we had a state’s AG doing just that with zero pushback from the social media powers that be.”
Shapiro may have noticed that seven Pennsylvania counties that voted for Trump in 2016 will not count mail-in ballots until the day after the election. Officials in Beaver, Cumberland, Franklin, Greene, Juniata, Mercer and Montour stated that they would need more time to count the ballots because of a lack of staffing and resources, NBC News reported. Roughly 150,000 voters in the counties asked for mail-in ballots, state data reveals.
Or Shapiro may have noticed that one Pennsylvania county councilman said “at least a dozen” elected Democrats were planning on casting votes for Trump. As The Washington Examiner reported, Sam DeMarco, chairman of the Republican Committee of Allegheny County and also an elected Allegheny County councilman at large. said shy Trump voters “most definitely exist” in his county. Some are in the upper-middle class suburbs where Trump supporters just don’t want to deal with the social aspects of neighbors asking, “How can you vote for this guy?” But others are in traditional Democratic strongholds.
“I’m an elected official,” DeMarco said. “I have had at least a dozen Democratic elected officials tell me that they are voting for Trump. They say they don’t like where their party has gone, so far to the left, but as Democratic elected officials they can’t come out and say it.”
“Look at the unions,” DeMarco continued. “When they endorse, they apply a lot of pressure on their guys to fall in line and support the candidate. That’s not happening now.” He mentioned a recent large oil and gas industry conference that included some local union leaders. “They said they’ve given up on trying to get their guys to vote Biden,” DeMarco recalled. “I can’t guess at the number, but if it’s in law enforcement, the building and trade unions, and oil and gas, these folks are voting Trump.”