Gov. Josh Shapiro has less than two years of experience as governor as the Democrats considered whether he should be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Unfortunately, he is only the latest name in a concerning trend.

Vice presidential nominees Sarah Palin, Kamala Harris and JD Vance and presidential nominees Barack Obama and Donald Trump: When these candidates first joined a national ticket, they had 12 years of experience as either a governor or in the U.S. Congress between the five of them.

We understand that in some instances, other attributes may compensate for an underdeveloped public record as a governor or lawmaker. But we have a hard time believing that occurs with the frequency we’ve seen in the past 16 years.

We believe service, particularly in one of these offices, is important.

They are the best places for a potential president to accrue the records on policy and governing philosophy by which voters can judge them.

They can also inform men and women firsthand of what the limitations of the presidency should be under a system that ideally prioritizes checks and balances, the role of the legislatures and primacy of local and state government over the ineffectiveness of national government.

We believe both aspects — presidents that respect the limitations of the executive branch and voters that assess candidacies based not on rhetoric but on concrete actions taken as an executive or lawmaker — are vitally important to the future of our democratic, federalist republic.

We can only hope in future elections, voters in our primaries and caucuses, as they select presidential nominees, and the advisers and staff of campaigns, as they select vice presidential nominees, can better recognize that.