A Day of Hope
Rep. Joseph C. Hohenstein January 18, 2023 | 11:24 AM
Today’s inauguration marks the beginning of Josh Shapiro’s work as Governor of Pennsylvania and my former colleague, Austin Davis, as the Lieutenant Governor. The political climate in Harrisburg results in an iceberg pace for policy, and change is usually talked about in hushed tones and whispers. Inauguration Day is different. It is a time when hope can be heard out loud, and visions for the future can be openly expressed.
I have hopes for this new Governor and his administration in Harrisburg. I have hope for the Pa. House of Representatives, where the balance of power is still shifting. For the first time since I arrived, I feel that some of the broader issues and concerns I was sent here to champion can have their day in the sun. The road forward is still hard, and negotiations across the aisle will be necessary. But there is reason to hope.
The need to negotiate, to listen to adversaries and find common ground is one of the reasons for my hope. Governor Shapiro is someone with experience at many levels of government, as a County Commissioner, as State Attorney General, and most importantly as a State Representative. I believe he has the skills and knowledge of the way things move at the Capitol to pass policy. He has the ability to be pragmatic and compromise, yet still be faithful to basic core values that are important to families across Pennsylvania.
Good leaders have that ability – to talk about a vision for a better future and to take steps to make real progress towards those goals. I share with our Governor a desire to secure good jobs and safe communities for our families, to protect people’s rights to basic freedoms and control over their own bodies, and to bring our democratic republic back to a sense of balance. That last thing is to me a central goal – restore people’s confidence in government by being a principled advocate for commonsense policies that put real people first.
I am hopeful of what today represents, and I truly believe in better days ahead.