Gov Josh Shapiro: “Government Can Still Be a Force for Good”

At the 2026 Leadership Now Summit, Pennsylvania’s governor argued that pragmatic, results-driven leadership is how America stays competitive — and how democratic government re-earns public trust.

At the 2026 Leadership Now Summit, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro sat down with Firing Line host and Summit emcee Margaret Hoover to argue that effective, pragmatic governance isn’t just good politics — it’s essential to American competitiveness and democratic renewal.

Shapiro, who calls himself a proud Get Stuff Done Democrat, has governed Pennsylvania with a relentless focus on results. Since taking office, his administration has attracted $43 billion in private sector investment in a single year and built the only growing economy in the northeastern United States.

“I’m a pro-growth governor, focused every day on cutting taxes, growing our economy, making sure that things happen quickly so our government moves at the speed of business,” Shapiro said.

Central to that record has been Shapiro’s emphasis on reducing bureaucratic drag. Pennsylvania went from near the bottom of the country on permitting times to among the very best. Business licenses that once took eight weeks now come through the same day.

“Government is often set up as a way to just stop things, to be a no,” Shapiro said. “We are a government that focuses on getting to yes.”

That same philosophy extends to the governor’s approach to AI. Shapiro signed the first executive order in the country deploying AI tools across state government, and he framed it not as a threat to workers but as a way to free them up for what matters most. His embrace of AI use within government has allowed 80,000 state employees to save an average of 95 minutes a day on routine tasks and eliminate backlogs across human services and permitting. Most remarkably: no one has been laid off as a result.

“I believe this technology can be a job enhancer, not a job replacer,” he said.

Shapiro argued that tangible, practical governance is also the most powerful antidote to the political instability and distrust that Leadership Now was founded to address. He spoke movingly about the fire bombing of his official residence on the first night of Passover 2025 and called for zero tolerance toward political violence.

“We have to acknowledge that political violence is a problem on both sides of the aisle,” he said. “It targets Democrats and it targets Republicans.”

His core message was ultimately simple: to regain trust, leaders need to focus on governing well, delivering results, and showing people that their institutions still work.

“I want people to understand that government can be a force for good in people’s lives,” Shapiro said. “And the way I show that is by putting points on the board every single day.”

Leadership Now Advisory Board Member Craig Robinson, Governor Josh Shapiro and Firing Line Host Margaret Hoover walking toward the stage at the 2026 Leadership Now Summit.