Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to arson attack on governor's mansion

Oct 14 (Reuters) - A 38-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday of attempting to murder Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in an April arson attack on the governor's residence in which he scaled a fence and ignited part of the house with gasoline-filled beer bottles as Shapiro and his family slept inside.

Cody Balmer also pleaded guilty to terrorism, 22 counts of arson, 21 counts of reckless endangerment, burglary, aggravated assault, and loitering, according to records from the Dauphin County Court in Pennsylvania.

A Pennsylvania judge sentenced Balmer to 25 to 50 years in state prison, according to local news reports.

The April attack was part of a surge in political violence in the United States. There were about 150 politically motivated attacks in the first half of 2025, nearly double the number from that period last year, according to political violence researchers.

In an emotional press conference on Tuesday, Shapiro said the attack had taken a profound toll on him and his family, and that despite rising levels of political violence in the U.S., nobody should "grow numb" to it.

"We need real accountability for acts of political violence, and today is real accountability for the violence that came here to Pennsylvania," said Shapiro, who is seen as a potential candidate for his party's presidential nomination in 2028.

After the attack, Balmer told police he "harbored hatred" toward Shapiro and would have beaten him with a hammer if he had encountered the governor inside the residence.

According to a police search warrant released in April when Balmer called 911 to confess, he told police he believed Shapiro, who is Jewish, was encouraging the war in Gaza, and that he "needs to stop having my friends killed," and "our people have been put through too much by that monster."

Since the attack on Shapiro's residence, other acts of political violence in the United States have targeted figures on the right and left.

In June, a Christian nationalist murdered a Democratic state lawmaker and her husband in Minnesota, and wounded a second Democrat.

In July, a group of at least 11 militants in black military-style clothing attacked an immigration detention center in Texas. The group set off fireworks, spray-painted "traitor" and "ICE Pig" on vehicles, and shot a responding police officer in the neck, wounding him, while another sprayed gunfire at detention guards, according to the FBI.