Shapiro wants a Dem fight in 2028 — without leading it

Josh Shapiro says the 2028 presidential race should be a once-in-a-generation battle over the Democratic Party's core identity. But so far, he isn't picking up his sword to fight.

As progressives and socialists have won primary after primary in recent weeks, the more moderate Shapiro often has been gun-shy about criticizing the left, taking more of a we're-all-in-this-together approach.

Why it matters: Many center-left Democrats are looking for a national leader to go toe to toe with the party's rising socialist wing. For now at least, that's not Shapiro.

The potential 2028 contender's restraint underscores a defining trait: He picks his spots and rarely acts impulsively.

His moves also suggest he doesn't want to completely alienate the left. He's sought to court progressives at times — implicitly acknowledging the movement's growing power.

Driving the news: Shapiro repeatedly has said that Democrats need to have an ideological clash as they did in 1992, when they nominated Bill Clinton, a Southern moderate who went on to defeat President George H.W. Bush.

"What our party has to go through that will be very healthy, and something we've not really done since the 1992 election cycle, is to have a battle over what we believe in," Shapiro told CNN's Dana Bash recently.

He made the same argument in an interview with Politico's Jonathan Martin, telling him, "We are now poised as a party to have what we haven't really had for the last 30 years, and that is a big ideological debate," noting, "the last time our party had a big ideological battle … was 1992."

But as much as Shapiro sounds as if he's itching for a fight, he's often pulling punches.

This month, he struck a positive note on MS Now's "Morning Joe" when asked about democratic socialists romping in recent primaries.

"A through-line is that there is real passion in the electorate" to "elect people who can be a check on Donald Trump's chaos and cruelty and corruption," Shapiro said.

He added that voters have "a lot of pain inflicted by this president and his enablers ripping away health care here in Pennsylvania from a half a million people, ripping away food assistance."

Shapiro, 53, has resisted reporters' efforts to identify him as either a "moderate" or "progressive."

On the podcast "The Press Box," he said Democrats eventually "have to coalesce around policies that maybe aren't left-wing or center or center-left or whatever — it's a little piece of lots of different things."

After interviewing Shapiro, "Press Box" host Joel Anderson said Shapiro is "not going to get dragged into dissing like the Mamdani wing of the Democrats. I think that's an … older type of politician that is going to be lashing out."

Shapiro's posture is markedly different from more combative moderates in his party such as New Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer, whose response to democratic socialists' recent victories has been to call them frauds: "If you're a socialist, you're not a Democrat."

New York Rep. Tom Suozzi also has taken a more aggressive tack, joining other centrists to push back against the Democratic Socialists of America: "People who do not support the DSA wring their hands at cocktail parties, while the DSA is organizing."

The difference: Unlike Suozzi or Gottheimer, Shapiro is widely seen as a presidential contender, which would necessitate uniting Democrats of all types.

Yes, but: There are times when Shapiro does distance himself from parts of the left.

He's said he has "profound differences" with Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist who ousted Rep. Adriano Espaillat in New York's Democratic primary.

Shapiro also has said that "people who want open borders and no prisons and no police — they're wrong."

But that's a bit of a straw-man argument — virtually no elected officials are talking about defunding the police anymore, not even socialist leaders.

Between the lines: Shapiro's centrist identity is no secret: He is pro-school vouchers, supports an "all of the above" energy policy, and brags about cutting taxes.

But he's tried to find common ground with progressives. He talks regularly with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, sued an AI company, and put his political muscle behind a Bernie Sanders–backed union leader running for a key House seat.

The other side: Matt Bennett, a former Clinton aide and co-founder of the center-left group Third Way, said it's just a matter of timing.

"People like Shapiro will articulate very sharp differences with the DSA and the rest of the extreme left. But they probably won't do that until they are fully into a presidential primary."

What they're saying: "Gov. Shapiro has been clear that with a president and a Congress hurting Pennsylvania families and attacking our democracy, no one should take their eye off the task of winning in 2026," Shapiro spokesperson Manuel Bonder said.

Flashback: Though Shapiro often compares this moment to 1992, he has been significantly less aggressive than Clinton.

As Arkansas' governor in the years before he ran, Clinton picked fights with powerful groups on the left, including organized labor, environmental groups, teachers and other activists.

In 1990, the head of Arkansas' AFL-CIO accused Clinton's state administration of "union busting."

The Sierra Club repeatedly criticized Clinton on his policies involving forests and animal pollution.

In 1990, Clinton became the head of the centrist, business-friendly Democratic Leadership Council. The group's first manifesto under Clinton called for the Democratic Party to "expand opportunity, not government."

And when he launched his 1992 campaign, Clinton proudly labeled himself a "different kind of Democrat." ...