RealClearPennsylvania Articles

Josh Shapiro wants to stand tall on the national stage. The Pennsylvania governor is building his presidential resume one line item at a time. His forthcoming memoir that addresses political extremism and the arson attack on the Pennsylvania Governor’s Residence. His campaign stops for rising star gubernatorial candidate Abigail Spanberger in Virginia this past weekend. His nationally televised condemnations of political violence. But if Shapiro wants to actually stand tall, he needs to stop acting small when it comes to partisan politics. When news broke about Virginia Democratic...

In the face of recent headlines about the Chesapeake Bay’s lagging progress, Pennsylvania’s Susquehanna River stands out as proof that strategic, local-first investments can yield measurable results. As long-time members of the Chesapeake Bay Commission, we’ve seen firsthand how Pennsylvania is turning the tide. While our state lacks a Chesapeake shoreline, nearly half of our state’s waterways drain into the bay, and the Susquehanna River alone contributes about 50% of its freshwater. That makes our role in the bay’s health not just important, but vital. In 2022,...

This fall, vote “No” if you want to stand up to out-of-control Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices acting like party bosses, tearing up bipartisan compromises, and enabling bigger, more invasive government – all without regard for the law or common sense. Vote “No” three times –against each justice seeking to be re-elected. We should expect judges – especially Pennsylvania Supreme Court justices – to be fair, impartial, and follow the law. The three justices running for retention failed us on each of those. We should reject each of them. In...

October is Dyslexia Awareness Month, and for my family, it is not just a line on the calendar; it’s our daily reality. Dyslexia affects 20% of the population and represents up to 90% of all learning disabilities, according to the Yale Center for Dyslexia and Creativity. It is the most common neurocognitive disorder, yet in Pennsylvania, too many children go undiagnosed and unsupported. The result isn’t simply poor reading scores: it’s shattered confidence, lost opportunities, and in the hardest moments, despair.  I know this reality all too well. I am the mother of...

As President Trump continues his whirlwind of activity – flooding the zone as it’s called – voters are forced to constantly process a torrent of information on wide-ranging issues. It’s our new normal, we are told. So, it’s not surprising to see fissures developing on certain issues, as voters tease out the nuances cascading across that whirlwind. To me, this is becoming a through point in America, and Pennsylvania, politics now: voters agreeing more with President Trump’s goals, but not so much with his approach to accomplishing those goals. It’s a...

Pennsylvania was supposed to be the energy state that got it right. Thanks to the Marcellus Shale formation, natural gas made Pennsylvania a net exporter of electricity. Fracking enabled Pennsylvania to power homes and industry not just here, but across the entire Mid-Atlantic. The state’s natural gas built modern power plants, attracted investment, and helped America move toward energy independence. So how is it that Pennsylvanians are still paying more for electricity every year? Over the past five years, electricity prices in Pennsylvania have risen 45%. It is a tick...

I now live in Houston, Texas, the energy capital of the world. From here, I watch skyscrapers and pipelines rise overnight as leaders match bold vision with pragmatic action. However, while I may live in Houston today, my roots are in northeastern Pennsylvania. It was home for nearly two decades and remains the lens through which I view energy, economic development, and the future of this industry. Northeastern Pennsylvania is also a microcosm of the broader Commonwealth. Its successes and struggles reflect what Pennsylvania gets right — and what too often gets wrong. From “Wall...

Suburban Democrats have ripped off their masks of moderation and thrown them away. They clearly feel not only emboldened, but untouchable – unable to be defeated by Republicans. Like California Democrats, they now focus on virtue-signaling, culture wars – and hating President Trump. Democratic politicians and activists with “Hate Has No Home Here” lawns signs now feel secure expressing their hatred for Trump and calling Republicans “fascists” and “nazis.” They poke Republicans whenever the spirits move them through social media posts and the...

The people of Pennsylvania are now enduring a “double whammy” – a state budget that is more than three months past due, plus a federal shutdown. And Gov. Josh Shapiro, who has focused on increasing his national notoriety instead of protecting the Pennsylvanians he serves, has made the commonwealth fiscally unstable and its people vulnerable because of his inability to govern. How did we arrive at this precarious moment? The story begins back in February, when Shapiro unveiled his unserious and irresponsible state budget proposal, which included $51.4 billion in...

Heading into this budget season, public transit activists knew they had to ramp up pressure on legislators to support funding for public transportation systems throughout Pennsylvania. Without action, transit systems across the Commonwealth wouldn’t have the money they needed to keep buses running, trains moving, and neighborhoods connected. Due to a funding cliff from Act 89, a comprehensive transportation plan signed into law in 2014, Pennsylvania's public transit systems lost funding after 2023. It meant that for transit systems to maintain the status quo, they needed over $200...

While every death represents a loss beyond belief, few will trigger a despair so great that those who experienced it will remember their location for years to come. Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) entered Utah Valley University on a bright, ambient September afternoon to kick off his “American Comeback” tour. Following the massive successes experienced in 2024, from winning the White House to flipping the U.S. Senate, to keeping the U.S. House, and plenty of other GOP victories – including here in Pennsylvania – Kirk felt right to celebrate an...

AI data centers are colossal buildings, often spanning more than one million square feet. Microsoft and OpenAI’s joint facility in Wisconsin will cover 1.2 million square feet; Meta’s Louisiana project exceeds four million square feet; and Google has two projects underway at 1.4 and two million square feet. But what truly matters is what is inside these concrete walls. Networks of advanced supercomputers fill the newly constructed space, supported by intricate cooling systems, backup power generation, gigantic batteries, and other essential infrastructure. At the core of all these...

The oil and gas industry faces a well-documented workforce challenge. As exploration, production, refining, and operational environments become more automated, remote, and technologically complex, companies are finding it harder to recruit and retain the skilled workers needed to sustain the sector. The data highlights the urgency. McKinsey & Company estimates that over a quarter of the U.S. energy workforce – approximately 400,000 individuals – are at or near retirement age. Many of these are frontline workers with deep expertise. A 2017 study by IHS Markit, commissioned by...

Over the course of the past month, the RealClearPolitics Institute of News & Information (RCPINI) has engaged in a lengthy, in-depth study of southwestern Pennsylvania and the determinants of political trust in the region. As a reminder, the ten counties that we study are Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Green, Indiana, Lawrence, Washington, and Westmoreland. We’ve studied them via a partnership with Emerson Polling, one of the most accurate polling companies in the country. After laying out the scope of the project, we examined trust as a general matter. Next, we...

Barack Obama thinks “We [America] are certainly at an inflection point.” He is right in more ways than he knows. Charlie Kirk’s murder and Donald Trump were on Obama’s mind at his Sept. 16 event, “A Conversation with Barack Obama” in Erie. A cheering throng of nearly 8,000 watched Obama flash his million-dollar smile, crack Dad jokes, and throw the gauntlet at Trump’s feet. It was a night of inflections delivered in a region amid one. The 90-minute dialogue between Obama and veteran Beltway broadcaster Steve Scully was friendly but pointed. Noticeably...

Electric bills may be the pivotal issue of Pennsylvania’s 2026 Midterm. Don’t believe me?  Just look eastward in New Jersey. A near majority of digital ads are focused on defining who is to blame for New Jersey’s escalating electric prices in a heated, competitive race for governor. Just as many likely run on television. The Democratic gubernatorial candidate, incumbent U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, is blamed for backing the status quo, resulting in skyrocketing electric bill rate hikes. Projecting toughness as an executive, Sherrill points the finger at utility companies...

Pennsylvania needs more broadband. Connecting underserved communities to affordable, high-speed internet will help rural communities prosper. Unfortunately, one misguided Pennsylvania policy makes the process needlessly expensive and ostensibly blocks internet access. This year, the Pennsylvania Broadband Development Authority (PBDA) will award almost $800 million in Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grants, once fully approved by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA). Sadly, Pennsylvania’s prevailing wage designations will limit...

Dead Center: Putting Country Over Party in a Time of Crisis, by Joe Manchin (St. Martin’s Press, 271 pp., $32) College football hall of famer and West Virginia native Nick Saban opens Joe Manchin’s book like a coach before the Backyard Brawl. The lesson he imparts is simple: unity isn’t weakness, and compromise is how hard things actually get done. It’s a telling foreword. Manchin casts himself as the last technician of a fast-fading craft, the senator who can still count votes in a room full of brawlers and get the bridge repaired while everyone else is fighting over...

Pennsylvania could be the national leader in artificial intelligence and data centers. Over the years, we missed our opportunity with coal, oil, and so far, natural gas (even though the state has more in this capacity than Saudi Arabia). Despite this energy, plus much more, US News rates Pennsylvania as only the 38th “best economy” and 40th for “best states overall.” Every piece of the puzzle is in our grasp: energy, technology, universities, geography. In July, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick brought President Trump, several of his cabinet members, along with leaders in...