Political violence in the United States is discouraging candidates from running for office, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said Tuesday after a man pleaded guilty to setting the governor’s mansion on fire.
The Democratic governor spoke after Cody Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in state prison for attempting to murder Shapiro and starting fires in the official residence in April.
Shapiro said his family isn’t alone in experiencing political violence, and it shouldn’t be accepted as the normal course of doing business.
Shapiro said as leaders across the world have reached out to him after the attack, “inevitably, those conversations turn to their own sense of vulnerability and their own worry about political violence.”
He says he has talked to potential candidates who said they don’t want to run because it would put their families at risk.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
A man who scaled an iron security fence in the middle of the night, eluded police and used beer bottles filled with gasoline to ignite the occupied Pennsylvania governor’s mansion pleaded guilty Tuesday to the attempted murder of Gov. Josh Shapiro and other charges.
Cody Balmer also entered pleas to terrorism, 22 counts of arson, aggravated arson, burglary, aggravated assault of Shapiro, 21 counts of reckless endangerment and loitering in the April 13 attack that caused millions of dollars in damage to the state-owned brick building.
Under a plea deal, Balmer was sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison, far less than he could have faced if the case had gone to trial. He declined to address the judge about the crime, answering questions with short, simple answers.
Defense attorney Bryan Walk said Balmer “is taking full responsibility” and paying “a hefty price for a man who’s 38 years old.”
Shapiro and members of his family had to be awakened and evacuated, but no one was injured in the fire. The multiple arson and endangerment charges reflected the number of people in the residence at the time, including the governor’s family, guests and state troopers.
The fire was set hours after they celebrated the Jewish holiday of Passover with a Seder in the residence. Prosecutors played video clips that showed Molotov cocktails going off and a figure inside and outside the residence. Judge Deborah Curcillo called the video “horrific” and “very frightening.”
Dauphin County District Attorney Fran Chardo told the court the video shows Balmer hitting the doors leading to where Shapiro and his family were sleeping, but he was unable to get through. Smoke was building up inside as Balmer deployed the second incendiary device. Fifteen overnight guests — including children — and two state troopers were inside.
Shapiro and his wife, Lori, provided a victim statement read in court that described how they were left feeling exposed in ways they would not have imagined, calling it “a fear and anxiety we are learning to live with.” The experience has added stress to their children’s lives, they wrote.
