>>> Incoming democratic
Pennsylvania governor Josh
Shapiro announcing that he is
tapping Republican Al Schmidt to
become secretary of the
commonwealth.
The secretary of state for the
commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
That's also the top elections
official in Pennsylvania.
Schmidt, as you may recall, was
a leading opponent of trump's
efforts to disrupt and delay and
stop the counting of votes in
the 2020 election and his
efforts to overturn the election
and commissioner Schmidt joins
me now.
Commissioner, first of all,
let's start with the reason why
I'm talking to you and you're in
the white house on the north
lawn.
You received the presidential
citizens medal from president
Biden for your efforts, your
heroic efforts, during the
aftermath of the 2020 election
and the efforts to count the
votes of every philadelphian.
You are -- were a strong
supporter of John McCain and
Mitt Romney.
Is it unusual to find yourself
there with a democratic
president?
>> I have to say it's just such
an incredible honor, and not
just to receive it, but really
to know that I'm receiving it as
a representative of all of the
hardworking election officials
across our country, Democrats
and Republicans, in big cities
an rural counties, that make
sure our democracy function.
When democracy is done right,
it's not democratic and it's not
Republican.
So for me, it doesn't seem
strange at all.
>> To there's an interesting
split screen going on, because
while you were literally
fighting for the right of my
mom's vote to count in the
Pennsylvania election in 2020,
individuals like Scott Perry,
the Republican congressman from
a different part of
Pennsylvania, was exacting
concessions from Kevin Mccarthy
in order to become -- in order
for Mccarthy to become speaker
of the house, even though Perry
was a big part of the scheme to
overturn the election and voted
against counting the electoral
votes from Pennsylvania.
So this fight doesn't seem quite
done to me.
>> Yes.
And I think, you know, so many
of us, including myself,
probably took the strength of
our democracy and our republic
for granted and 2020 and January
6th and the events that we've
seen since then, have really, I
think, been a wake-up call for
the need for all of us to do our
part to strengthen democracy.
Democrats and Republicans alike.
>> You've described receiving
death threats and angry messages
from trump supporters for your
role in the 2020 election.
And yet, you are putting
yourself back into the position
of the person in charge of
elections in Pennsylvania.
I don't know that it's going to
be any less contentious in 2024.
Why?
>> Well, I truly believe in
public service and the
opportunity to work for
governor-elect Shapiro and to
work in that administration and
to work on behalf of the voters
of the commonwealth of
Pennsylvania, is a real -- it's
a civic responsibility.
So at the end of the day, it
really didn't feel like a choice
to make.
If I can be of service, I want
to be of service.
>> Are you ready for another
round of death threats and being
targeted by the likes of Donald
Trump, who is the only
Republican as of right now who
said he's running for election
for president in 2024?
>> Well, at least right now, I
have the curious luxury of
having been through all of that
in 2020, and my family,
obviously, did as well, but
they're big believers in public
service as well and are truly
just completely supportive of
this effort.
Hopefully we won't see any of
that in the future, and we have
to do everything we can to
prevent any opportunities for
bad faith actors to undermine
the strength of our democracy.
>> So it's interesting because
Josh Shapiro was running against
Doug mast Triano who was present
at the January 6th protest, he
was an election liar, there was
a whole bunch of stuff I could
say about him, but one of the
big fears was the governor of
Pennsylvania appoints the
secretary of state, the
secretary of the commonwealth,
thankfully he didn't win, an
election liar didn't win, what
did you think when the
democratic governor called you,
a Republican, the
governor-elect, Josh Shapiro,
called you, a Republican, and
said do you want to be my
secretary of the commonwealth?
>> Well, although we might be
registered in different parties,
there's nothing during the
campaign at all that the
governor-elect expressed as part
of that campaign.
There was no daylight between
that perspective on democracy
and the needs to improve it and
improve voter access and improve
the integrity of the process
from my perspective at any point
prior to that, so it's a real --
it's a real honor to serve
governor-elect Shapiro.
>> Have you been sworn in yet?
>> No, not yet.
The incoming governor will be
sworn in on the 17th of January.
>> I didn't know if I should say
thank you to commissioner