Tarik Khan: Gov. Josh Shapiro is right — we have to rise above the kind of political violence that targeted him

Josh Shapiro and I discussed our faith the first time we ever spoke.

In the spring of 2008, I visited then-State Rep. Shapiro in his state Capitol office as an advocate for patient safety with the Pennsylvania State Nurses Association.

Inspired by his openness and dynamism, our conversation strayed to other topics. Shapiro had recently become one of the first Pennsylvania officials to endorse then-Sen. Barack Obama for president, giving him a crucial boost.

At this point, some of the early Islamophobic attacks on Obama had already begun, given Obama’s Arabic name and Muslim father.

I was disturbed by these attacks on then-Sen. Obama, and I asked Shapiro for advice as a Muslim American with an Arabic name who may one day consider running for office.

Shapiro thought for a moment, then reflected on his own faith and told me, “I would let people know your faith informs your values, but does not dictate your decisions or actions.”

After that memorable day, I followed Shapiro’s career closely, including his elections for Montgomery County commissioner, Pennsylvania attorney general, and governor.

Nearly 15 years after we met, the pandemic convinced me we needed more nurses in the state legislature advocating for safety. I joined Shapiro on the winning Democratic ticket in 2022, which made him Pennsylvania’s third Jewish American governor and me the third Muslim American state representative in Pennsylvania’s history.

Our mutual faiths have informed our values in service to justice, peace, and community. I’ve worked with the governor’s office to pass bipartisan bills that invested historic funding to educate every child in every school, provide homeowners tax relief, and build affordable housing.

And as governor, Shapiro has been there for the Muslim community. Most notably, he signed my bill to increase security grants for nonprofits at risk for hate crimes like mosques and synagogues, proclaimed July 2024 as “Muslim American Heritage Month in Pennsylvania,” and awarded the largest grant ever to a Muslim community center for $5 million.

And just a few weeks ago, Shapiro hosted his annual iftar dinner, when Muslims break their fast at Ramadan, at his residence, something we established together during my first term in office.

During this year’s iftar dinner, I could tell the governor was truly moved after we broke bread. He shared that he carries a sense of awe because the room we pray in each year at his official residence is the same room where his son had his bar mitzvah.

That peaceful celebration of our various faiths, he said, was exactly what William Penn envisioned when he founded the commonwealth.

It’s even more painful to hear this friend who was openly celebrating his faith at a Passover seder dinner was — just hours later — the target of a man who wished to burn down his home while the Shapiro family slept. And that room where we observed our religious events was one of the rooms in which the attacker threw a Molotov cocktail and nearly burned it to the ground.

As the embers in the governor’s mansion still smoldered, Shapiro gave a news conference just feet away. He said he and his family chose to see light in that moment of darkness.

Just as the governor leans into his faith following this egregious attack, I am praying for the governor and his family for the trauma they must be experiencing. While the actions of a few may inflame and terrorize, I know the mission of a peacemaker will always inspire more than the malice of an arsonist.

And as I sit in my own Capitol office in the wake of this dark moment for Pennsylvania, I am inspired by the governor’s resolve to double his efforts and work even harder to make a better and more just society here in the commonwealth.

Just as Penn had in mind.

Tarik Khan is a family nurse practitioner serving his second term representing parts of Northwest Philadelphia in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives.