FLINT, Mich. — Josh Shapiro knows it's wild to talk about Benjamin Franklin as one of his predecessors, both men having served as governor of Pennsylvania.

“I know it sounds crazy to say, but it's true,” Shapiro said to a small crowd of supporters in an event space tucked away at the indoor Flint Farmers' Market last week.

That doesn't stop the Democratic governor from hearkening back to the founding father in many of his stump speeches — now given around the country — reciting a famous conversation outside Independence Hall following the Constitutional Convention, in which a friend of George Washington's asked Franklin whether America would be a monarchy or a republic.

Shapiro has perfectly timed his delivery as he recounts Franklin's famous line, sometimes pausing to say it in unison with the crowd: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

He repeated the line over and over during his 17 stops over four days in Michigan and Pennsylvania on a bus tour last week that featured as many as six Democratic governors at a time.

Shapiro even gave the closing pump-up speech at several stops, including in the Rust Belt town of Flint, urging supporters in the three “Blue Wall” swing states — Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, which have chosen Democratic presidential candidates every year since 1988, excluding the 2016 election — to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States.

Shapiro, Pennsylvania's unusually popular first-term governor, has become one of the most sought-after surrogates for Democrats nationally since he was passed over by Harris to be her running mate in August. All the while, the former Pennsylvania attorney general, who has long held national ambitions, has been busy building a national brand as a moderate Democrat willing to work across the aisle and a skilled orator often compared to former President Barack Obama.

As Harris and former President Donald Trump zero in on Pennsylvania in the final weeks of the campaign, Shapiro has been tapped to raise money and campaign for out-of-state Democrats, zigzagging across the country to swing states like Wisconsin to stump for U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Georgia for U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, and North Carolina for gubernatorial candidate Josh Stein. He has also become one of the most active surrogates for Harris in and outside must-win Pennsylvania, rivaling Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. He frequents national and local media to talk about Harris, and gave a prime-time speech during the Democratic National Convention, arguing that Democrats are the party of “real freedom.”

The popularity has translated into dollar signs. It's unclear how much Shapiro — known to be a prolific fundraiser, even as a state representative — has raised since his star has risen nationally, but campaign finance reports are due at the end of this week. He has contributed $1 million so far to the state House Democrats to help them maintain and expand their state House majority, showing he will be sitting on a large war chest in his next reports.

When Harris' national finance committee met in Philadelphia last week, the governor — the keynote speaker — was mobbed “like a celebrity” by fundraisers after the event, said Alan Kessler, a longtime Democratic fundraiser who is also part of Shapiro's leadership team.

“Look, elected officials, campaigns know about him, but it's the finance world that has really been struck by him,” Kessler said.

And no matter the outcome of the forthcoming election, Shapiro will benefit politically: If Harris wins Pennsylvania, he'll get to claim some credit. If she loses, he'll likely be the Democratic front-runner in 2028. (Shapiro maintains that it's critical Harris wins, and has done nearly 60 campaign events for her since she entered the race in late July, an aide said.)

“I really feel he will be president someday,” said Suzanne Cornman, 70, of Mount Holly Springs near Harrisburg, at the final bus tour stop Sunday with four Democratic governors in Carlisle, outside a barn that is older than the country. “He's just got it.”

Finding balance

After delivering the closing pitch in Flint, the “Blue Wall Bus Tour” featuring Harris' and Walz's faces drove an hour north to Midland, Mich. The tour bus, organized and paid for by Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's “Fight like Hell” political action committee, was organized with Shapiro and Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers to help the Harris campaign target areas it otherwise wouldn't get to reach, said Whitmer, another potential future presidential front-runner. The governors' faces all made it on the bus, too, which Evers frequently joked about. (“You'll notice our heads look like monsters. If you like big heads, you're gonna love that bus,” Evers told the crowd to laughs in Saginaw.)

The bus pulled around the back of a rundown mid-Michigan shopping mall, where the Midland County Democrats rent a storefront in what was once a solidly Republican area that now is becoming more politically mixed. The store was at capacity with Harris supporters.

Shapiro's stump speeches are sometimes expletive-ridden (“Donald Trump better stop s — talking about America,” he often says) and recall Philadelphia's history as the birthplace of America. Shapiro's governing motto is “Get S — Done.” He said he wants to support candidates nationally who want to adopt a similar goal of having government that delivers for its residents.

In Midland and stops across Michigan last Thursday, Shapiro's message seemed to work among Democrats — even across state lines. Shapiro joined Whitmer's bus tour for about half of its 40 stops last week for events in Michigan and Pennsylvania, before its end on Sunday in Carlisle. (Shapiro declined to say what the governors talked about as they traveled the states; however, there is a karaoke machine on the bus, a Whitmer aide said.)

The Abington native said he's finding a balance with his new national profile and his role as governor, though he spends “90-plus percent of my time” in Pennsylvania. After spending two days out of state, Shapiro, who is Jewish, was home Friday evening for Shabbat.

“I am honored that there are people around the country that think that our brand of governing and politics in Pennsylvania and the work I've done is something that can help them,” Shapiro said in an interview in a hallway of the local Democrats' office in Saginaw, Mich. “These are candidates who've got the 'GSD' attitude and who want to bring that to their state, and if I can help support them and lift them up and ultimately deliver better government all across this country, I think that's important.”

Aside from delivering Pennsylvania for Harris, Shapiro has other obligations back home. He dumped the $1 million into the state House's campaign accounts and $250,000 to the Senate Democrats hoping to tighten the GOP majority in the state Senate, and starred in ads for several of his endorsed candidates. He will need Democrats to hold onto their narrow majority in the state House to accomplish any of his policy agenda, and Democrats hope to cut into the GOP majority in the state Senate this year to potentially tie the chamber.

He has also hosted fundraisers for Pennsylvania congressional candidates and continues to stump for U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who is running in a narrowing race against Republican Dave McCormick.

For Shapiro, the balancing act continues on the campaign trail, as he shifts focus between down-ballot races in Michigan and at home in Pennsylvania.

After one of the tour stops in Midland, Shapiro made sure to mention U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic nominee locked in a tight race to represent Michigan in the U.S. Senate, before talking about the down-ballot races he cares about in Pennsylvania.

“You'll see when we're back in our home state of Pennsylvania, we're going to be with candidates for state rep, state Senate, attorney general, obviously United States Senate,” Shapiro added. “We understand that a rising tide lifts all boats, and we've got state reps who are going to turn out votes for Kamala Harris, and Kamala Harris is going to turn out votes for our state reps and everybody in between.”