Incoming Pa. governor taps GOP ex-official for election post

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former Philadelphia election official who has told of enduring death threats for defending the city's 2020 vote-counting against former President Donald Trump's lies will be nominated for the top election administration post in Pennsylvania by the incoming Democratic governor, Josh Shapiro.

Al Schmidt's coming nomination to be secretary of state, announced Thursday by Shapiro, sets him up to oversee what is expected to be a hard-fought 2024 election in the critical presidential battleground. Schmidt is Shapiro's first Cabinet selection to be revealed ahead of his Jan. 17 inauguration.

Protecting elections and voting rights was central to Shapiro's campaign, as he emphasized his intention to nominate a “pro-Democracy” secretary of state and his role, as attorney general, in fighting efforts in court by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

“Al Schmidt has a proven track record of defending our democracy, protecting voting rights and standing up to extremism — even in the face of grave threats," Shapiro said in a statement.

Schmidt, 51, is a Republican, fitting in with Shapiro's theme of fashioning a bipartisan administration in politically divided Pennsylvania.

Schmidt is president and CEO of the Committee of Seventy, a good-government group in Philadelphia. Before he joined the group a year ago, Schmidt spent a decade as a Republican elected to the three-member board that oversees elections in Philadelphia and has worked for the city and state GOP.

On Friday, the second anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, Schmidt will be among 12 people to receive the Presidential Citizens Medal from President Joe Biden in a ceremony at the White House. This is the first time Biden has given the medal,...