For breakfast Monday, Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity officially joined the 2026 race for governor and ripped the man she wants to replace.
In a 7 a.m. recorded announcement on social media, Garrity immediately accused Gov. Josh Shapiro of running for president instead of solving the state’s problems.
The announcement portrayed Garrity as a strong ally of President Donald Trump. A Republican who lives in Athens Twp. in Bradford County, Garrity, 61, promised to “work hard every day to fix the problems Josh Shapiro has created.”
She said the problems include a delayed state budget that threatens school funding, “the fifth highest tax burden in the country, skyrocketing utility prices and the highest rising food prices in all of America.”
“I'm going to make your family one more promise. I will never embarrass Pennsylvania with scandals, unconscionable behavior, deleted emails and cover ups and a total lack of transparency like Shapiro has,” Garrity said.
That’s an allusion to the resignation of former state Secretary of Legislative Affairs Mike Vereb in September 2023 amid allegations of sexual harassment. The administration deleted emails, claiming that happened as part of normal records management policy, the online publication, Broad & Liberty reported in May.
Shapiro, Democrats fire back
Asked for comment on Garrity’s announcement, Manuel Bonder, Shapiro’s press secretary, referred a reporter to the governor’s comments during a Friday appearance in Nanticoke.
“Look, the Republicans are going to deal with their intramural fight. I'm not going to get into their parlor games,” Shapiro said. “You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to keep creating jobs here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I'm going to fund our kids’ schools. I'm going to make sure that we have more cops on the beat, and I'm going to focus on doing my job of bringing Republicans and Democrats together to get stuff done. That's my focus.”
Izzi Levy, a spokesperson for the Democratic Governors Associations, called Garrity “as extreme as they come” for supporting Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“Garrity’s support for a bill that rips health care away from hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians while ballooning our national deficit and killing energy jobs, gleefully celebrating the overturning of Roe v. Wade, and pushing plans to defund the public schools families across the Commonwealth rely on all make it clear that she is wrong for Pennsylvania,” Levy said.
In her announcement, a narrator says Garrity “supports protecting healthcare and welfare benefits for vulnerable Americans while requiring able bodied recipients to work for their benefits and ending benefits for those here illegally.”
Shapiro's electoral record
Shapiro, a popular Democrat who has won three statewide elections, is unlikely to face a strong challenge from within his own party.
So far, Garrity is the only well-known Republican to announce a candidacy, but state Sen. Doug Mastriano recently re-established Doug4Gov.com, his gubernatorial campaign website.
In 2022, Shapiro walloped Mastriano, who has also suggested he wouldn’t mind being Garrity’s lieutenant governor running mate.
John Ventre, of Westmoreland County, is the only other Republican to announce a candidacy. He announced in 2022 but could not gather the required number of signatures.
Garrity's electoral record
Garrity won the treasurer’s job in 2020, upsetting incumbent Democrat Joseph Torsella as Trump won Pennsylvania. Garrity won re-election last year with more than 3.5 million votes, a total second in state history only to Trump’s 2024 total.
But that was against Erin McClelland, a Democrat who alienated Shapiro and other party stalwarts by criticizing the governor.
Garrity, a military veteran who served three tours in Iraq, has never run against a candidate with the name recognition and financial resources of Shapiro.
Shapiro piled up big numbers
Shapiro, viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender, is the only candidate to collect more than three million votes in a statewide election three times — during the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections when he ran for attorney general and 2022 for governor.
Garrity has received more than 3.2 million votes in both her elections, but both were in presidential election years, 2020 and 2024, with Trump on the ballot. Next year, Trump won’t be on the ballot, though the president’s record will likely be part of the campaign.
Garrity record as treasurer
A state treasurer has more limited opportunities to gain attention than a governor, but Garrity has regularly made news by returning lost service medals to veterans or their families, distributing unclaimed property or money to thousands of Pennsylvanians and touting programs that benefit students and people with disabilities.
She has occasionally crossed party lines, joining former Sen. Bob Casey to promote a savings plan that benefits people with disabilities.
Shapiro praised Garrity
At her second inauguration in January, Shapiro praised Garrity for working hard as treasurer.
“She is mission-driven, whether that was serving our nation in the military or serving as treasurer, where she's worked, to put money back in people's pockets,” Shapiro said.
Then Shapiro ripped Garrity
Last month, the governor sounded less friendly during an appearance on WILK Radio, accusing Garrity of lying about supporting rural healthcare while backing Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
“She actually stood with me at a rural hospital, claiming to care about rural health care. Well, now, we’ve got 25 rural hospitals that are likely to shutter,” Shapiro said.
Garrity accused Shapiro of fear-mongering “because the facts aren’t on his side,” according to the New Castle News.
