The Pennsylvania Republican Party endorsed state Treasurer Stacy Garrity in the 2026 race for governor during its fall state committee meeting in State College over the weekend.
Garrity, the only candidate nominated on the floor, was approved by a voice vote. A significant majority said “aye” in their support, while there were just a few ‘no’s’ in the crowd when asked if the party should endorse her in the race.
During her acceptance speech, Garrity highlighted her small town roots in Bradford County, plus her experience as a combat veteran and elected official as reasons why she’s positioned to take on incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro next year.
“While Josh Shapiro has taken more and more of your money, my office has returned more than a billion dollars to its rightful owners,” she said. “Rather than empowering bureaucracy to stop progress, we created Pennsylvania Money Match, removing red tape, and returning more than $40 million to Pennsylvania taxpayers.”
“And that is the fundamental contrast in this race,” she added. “While Josh Shapiro seeks to take more from you, I am running for governor to give back.”
Garrity was first elected as state treasurer in 2020 after defeating incumbent Democrat Joe Torsella by just under one point. Her victory over the Montgomery County Democrat was seen as an upset and then she cruised to reelection in 2024.
Garrity claimed that Shapiro’s GSD “get stuff done” phrase is all talk and criticized his administration on a variety of policy issues including energy, crime, and education.
“Let’s be clear, Josh Shapiro has one priority, and it’s not you,” Garrity said. “Josh Shapiro’s priority is Josh Shapiro and the contrast between us could not be clearer.”
Garrity also stated that she’s not running for governor “as a stepping stone to something bigger,” a not-so-veiled jab at Shapiro for his reported interest in potentially running for president in 2028.
“My message to families all across our great commonwealth: help is on the way,” Garrity said. “And with your help, we’ll make Pennsylvania a safer, a stronger and a more prosperous place to raise your family and grow your business today and for years to come.”
On Saturday, Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Eugene DePasquale issued a statement saying that Garrity has sold out Pennsylvanians every chance she’s gotten and that she couldn’t be trusted in the governor’s office.
“Stacy Garrity has a long track record of views and positions that are wrong for Pennsylvania,” DePasquale wrote.
He criticized Garrity for supporting President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he said will negatively impact health care, energy jobs, and taxes.
“She has long fought for an extreme anti-choice agenda – celebrating the fall of Roe v. Wade and even selling anti-abortion merchandise,” DePasquale wrote.
Since launching her 2026 bid for governor, Politico reports that Garrity has stopped selling the anti-abortion merchandise on her campaign website and said she would not support a state abortion ban if elected, although she avoided directly answering questions about her position on the issue during an interview with Politico in September.
DePasquale also criticized Garrity for speaking at a rally in January 2021 that questioned the integrity of the 2020 election.
Garrity has since walked those comments back.
As the 2026 campaign plays out, Garrity and Shapiro still have to work with one another in their current roles in elected office.
Garrity said her bid for governor hasn’t changed the way she will be working with him.
“This is not personal. I just have a very different vision for our commonwealth,” Garrity told reporters. “It hasn’t changed at all.”
The 2026 general election is over a year away, but a trio of national ratings outlets, the Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections, indicate that Shapiro is the favorite, rating the race as “likely Democratic.”
Following the endorsement meeting, Garrity is set to embark on a week-long trip kicking off her campaign, dubbed the “Help is on the Way Tour,” and visit five different regions in the state for rallies.
Each rally will take place in counties that Shapiro won in 2022 over Mastriano. During Garrity’s successful reelection bid in 2024, she won three of those counties – Cumberland, Erie, and Bucks, while losing in more-Democratic friendly Allegheny and Lackawanna counties.
Will Garrity have a clear path to the nomination?
Although Garrity now has the formal support of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, it does not necessarily mean that she will be the only candidate seeking the nomination.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, who was the GOP gubernatorial candidate in 2022 and lost to Shapiro by double digits, has been teasing a 2026 run for months through social media posts and interviews.
Mastriano secured the GOP nomination for governor in 2022 during a crowded primary that saw the state party largely stay on the sidelines, while Trump delivered a last-minute endorsement to him.
Mastriano has repeatedly railed against the effort from the state party to endorse a candidate for governor at the fall meeting.
“ I spent 90 minutes with (Pennsylvania Republican Party Chairman) Greg Rothman at our house expressing our opposition to an extremely premature endorsement,” Mastriano told WITF in August. “We think it’s a terrible idea and it’ll disenfranchise the grassroots, which we’re part of.”
Mastriano has also said that an endorsement of Garrity would not necessarily deter him from joining the 2026 race.
Rothman told the Capital-Star in an interview in February endorsing candidates early, like the state party did in 2024 for Dave McCormick, can make a “huge difference.”
Garrity echoed a similar sentiment with reporters on Saturday.
“Anytime you can get an early endorsement, it’s fantastic, and I am so honored to have the endorsement and the confidence of the leaders here of our grassroots party,” she said.
Peter Quaglia, a committeeman from Wayne County, noted that Garrity broke the record for most votes earned in an election in state history during her 2024 victory as a reason the party endorsed her.
“I’m personally somebody who’s normally against endorsements, but this is a situation where, not to endorse her would be an abdication of our responsibility to the party,” Quaglia said. “She’s been gift-wrapped for us, basically in terms of somebody to go up against Josh Shapiro.”
Republican state committee members that spoke with the Capital-Star said they were unsure if Mastriano would decide to enter the race.
How will Trump impact the race?
Garrity and Mastriano are both vocal supporters of President Trump and his administration.
Trump’s endorsements usually hold a lot of weight in GOP primaries in Pennsylvania and beyond.
In 2022, Trump backed Mastriano and Mehmet Oz in their respective primaries for governor and U.S. Senate. Both candidates won the primary, but lost in the general election.
Trump has not formally announced his support for a candidate in the 2026 Pennsylvania race for governor.
“I was so honored to campaign with President Trump in 2024 and he and I led the ticket,” Garrity told reporters. “And so I would be honored to get his endorsement.”
“And between now and when I get it, I will be working in all four corners of the great commonwealth to get the endorsement of every voter in Pennsylvania,” she added.
The Pennsylvania Democratic Party is already attempting to link Garrity with Trump in the 2026 race.
“If Stacy Garrity does become the GOP insiders’ pick for governor, they will be making a clear choice: pledging allegiance to a candidate who has pledged her own allegiance to Donald Trump and a dangerous agenda that will hurt the people of Pennsylvania,” DePasquale said. “The voters of the commonwealth know they can’t trust someone like that anywhere near the Governor’s office.”
Trump won the state’s 19 electoral votes in 2024, although recent approval ratings show that the president approval rating dropping in Pennsylvania.
Val Biancaniello, a GOP committeewoman from Delaware County, credited Trump’s message in 2024 for his victory, as well as the GOP’s “Swamp the Vote” strategy, which also encouraged Republicans to vote-by-mail. Although Democrats vote-by-mail in larger numbers, Republicans did increase their share of voting by mail in the 2024 election.
In August, Trump sent out a post on social media that he was going to “lead a movement” to end mail-in voting.
No endorsement for the race for Lt. Gov.
The Pennsylvania Republican Party during Saturday’s meeting decided to push back it’s endorsement in the race for lieutenant governor until their next state committee meeting in 2026.
Garrity declined to say who she wanted to join her on the ticket.
“That process will play out,” Garrity said. “So, we’ll deal with that at the next state committee meeting in February.”
Guy Ciarrocchi, a GOP committeeman in Chester County, believes it is important to have a strong candidate in that race, as well.
“I think the important thing is this last three years has been about showmanship,” he said. “I think Stacy wants to build a ticket where things will get done, where we’ll finally pass budgets on time, where we’ll deal with school choice and empower parents.”
The 2026 primary in Pennsylvania will take place on May 19.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.
