Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro’s gubernatorial mansion in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania was burned down early Sunday morning, 13 April. Given that he is a member of the Democratic Party, some in the media suspected right-wing extremism to be the motive. However, given that Governor Shapiro is Jewish, and was celebrating Passover with his friends and family, left-wing violence was also a possible cause, as per the recent trend of increased antisemitism among progressive activists.
38-year-old Harisburg resident Cody Balmer has been arrested and is the primary suspect in the arson case. He has already been charged with attempted murder, terrorism, aggravated arson, and aggravated assault, and is being held without bail.
As for his motives, from what we learnt from his social media posts, it is a much more complicated case than originally anticipated.
One of his most recent photos shared on his Facebook page (which is still up) claims that ‘Joe Biden owes me 2 grand,’ which would evidently put him in opposition to Democrat President Joe Biden. However, that is a very mild statement which could also be interpreted as a joke.
Out of his posts that are still up, none of them are overtly supporting or opposing either major political party. In April 2020, at the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, he did post advocating for wearing face masks, which was in opposition to President Trump’s and the fringe-right flank of supporters’ stance at the time.
Mainstream media also reported on a meme he shared back in June 2022. The post in question depicts a Molotov cocktail with the caption ‘Be the light you want to see in the world’, a clear allusion to violence, specifically arson.
Balmer also did more than just share memes with allusions to violence.
While he committed the alleged arson, he was actually out on bail for a 2023 simple assault charge, Fox News found. He has two forgery convictions in his past from 2015, as well as miscellaneous traffic violations.
As for more on his political affiliation, a post on X claims he has revealed in a Facebook comment that he is ‘a registered socialist’. However, that has not been corroborated; and Socialist Party USA does not even have any locals in his home state of Pennsylvania.
One likely motive behind his crime is financial desperation, rather than political activism. At his arraignment on Monday, he claimed to be an out-of-work welder ‘with no income or savings’. He has also been fighting foreclosure on his house since 2022 due to failing to make mortgage payments.
Governor Shapiro made understandably emotional statements to the press on the morning after the attack. He stated: ‘We celebrated our faith last night proudly. And in a few hours, we will celebrate our second Seder of Passover again, proudly. No one will deter me or my family or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly,’ which clearly indicated that he believed the perpetrator had antisemitic motives at the time.
All this is taking place in the wake of a series of attacks against Tesla products and properties by far-left activists in the US in protest of Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s political stances and his close alliance with President Donald Trump. Many of those attacks were also cases of arson.
It is also worth noting that Pennsylvania is the state where the first assassination attempt against President Trump took place in July 2024.
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