Sen. Ward says she will work to ensure potential Democratic presidential ticket including Shapiro loses

State Sen. Kim Ward, R-Hempfield, pledged to try to avoid becoming Pennsylvania’s lieutenant governor — something that would happen should Gov. Josh Shapiro leave office before his term ends.

“I’m going to fight as hard as I can to make sure I don’t become lieutenant governor … that it never happens,” said Ward, whose position as Senate president pro tempore makes her second in line to become governor.

Ward is Pennsylvania’s first female president pro tempore.

She would become lieutenant governor if Vice President and likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris picks Shapiro in a high-stakes veepstakes and they defeat Republican former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, in the November election.

If Shapiro leaves his post as governor, Ward said, she would retain her position in the Senate, just as two of her predecessors did: Sen. Robert Jubelirer, R-Altoona, who retained his seat when Lt. Gov. Mark Schweiker became governor in October 2001 after Gov. Tom Ridge became Homeland Security director, and when Sen. Joseph B. Scarnati, R-Brockway, replaced Lt. Gov. Catherine Baker Knoll when she died in 2008.

It’s a job Ward already has had, albeit briefly when then-Lt. Gov. John Fetterman had to resign in January 2023 before he was sworn in to office as a U.S. senator. There was a two-week period when she served under Gov. Tom Wolf before Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis were sworn in to office.

Shapiro is one of at least seven potential vice presidential candidates that have been mentioned by pundits.

The Democratic National Convention opens Aug. 19 in Chicago.

Shapiro has been focused on loftier ambitions since he was elected governor, Ward said.

“We can see it in the way he governs. He does not take a firm stance on anything,” Ward said.

Shapiro has been walking the middle of the road on issues and has been willing to sign bills that the Legislature puts on his desk, Ward said.

A case in point is the governor’s support for funding vouchers for parents to send their children to private and religious schools, Ward said. Shapiro had supported a controversial Republican plan for taxpayer-funded vouchers, but vetoed it while also pushing for a $1.1 billion increase in funding for public education. The governor has received criticism for his support of vouchers.

“He’s not standing up and fighting for anything. He’s walking down the middle of the road, and you know what they say: ‘Walk down the middle of the road and you get hit by both sides,’ ” Ward said.

If Shapiro adopts Harris’ stance against fracking and illegal immigration at the border, Ward said, she believes “it’s not going to matter if he’s on the ticket, because her (Harris’) stances on some very important issues are not those of Pennsylvania families.”

Ward is unopposed in her bid for reelection to another four-year term in the 39th District, which covers more than two-thirds of Westmoreland County’s population. She is anticipating a tight race between former President Trump and Harris. Of five polls taken of Pennsylvania voters since President Biden announced Sunday he was dropping out of the race, Trump had a slight lead in three of them.

“It’s going to be a very tough, expensive race trying to get messages out. Absolutely,” Ward said.

Shapiro’s office declined to comment on Ward’s assessment.