Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro is used to running the state — but now his neighbors say he’s been running their backyard too.
A bitter property fight between the governor and the couple next door has exploded into a federal lawsuit, with Jeremy and Simone Mock accusing Shapiro and his wife, Lori, of trespassing on a slice of their land and trying to claim it for themselves.
At the center of the dispute is roughly 2,900 square feet of property between the two homes in the Philadelphia suburb of Jenkintown. The Mocks say the strip belongs to them. The governor’s family says otherwise.
According to the complaint filed in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the fight began after security concerns intensified around Shapiro’s homes. In April 2025, an arsonist hurled a Molotov cocktail into the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg while Shapiro and his family were inside celebrating Passover. The attack prompted officials to review security at the governor’s other home as well.
As part of those discussions, the Shapiros wanted to build an eight-foot security fence near the edge of their property in Jenkintown.
The situation also carries a dose of political irony. Shapiro previously criticized former President Donald Trump’s border wall and other immigration policies. Now the Democratic governor finds himself in a legal fight tied to building a fence around his own home.
That’s when surveyors discovered something surprising: a piece of land the Shapiros had long treated as part of their yard was actually deeded to the Mocks.
Court filings say the governor first tried to buy the land from his neighbors so the security project could move forward. When the two sides couldn’t agree on a price, the Mocks say they offered another option — leasing the strip instead.
But the lawsuit claims negotiations soon broke down.
The Mocks allege the Shapiros began acting as though the land already belonged to them, planting trees on the disputed strip and asserting control over the area. The complaint also claims that the Pennsylvania State Police began patrolling the property as part of a security zone connected to the governor’s protection detail.
When the Mocks attempted to access the land, officers allegedly told them the area was considered “disputed” and ordered them to leave.
The neighbors say the situation forced them to halt construction of their own fence and prevented contractors from entering the area.
The Shapiros strongly dispute the allegations and have filed their own legal action.
Their argument relies on Pennsylvania’s adverse possession law, which allows someone to claim ownership of land if they have openly used and maintained it for 21 continuous years without the legal owner objecting.
According to their filing, the Shapiros say they’ve treated the fence line as the real property boundary since they purchased their home in 2003, mowing and maintaining the area for decades.
The Mocks call the situation something else entirely — an “outrageous abuse of power.”
In the end, it’s the kind of neighbor property fight many homeowners have seen before — just with a governor on one side of the fence.