Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity speaks at an event to kick off her 2026 gubernatorial campaign Thursday, Sept. 25, 2025 in Bucks County. (Photo by John Cole/Capital-Star)
Just days after securing the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s endorsement in the 2026 race for governor, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity took her campaign to the biggest swing county in the state.
“Pennsylvania deserves a fighter who works for them, not a politician with eyes on the White House,” Garrity said Thursday at the Newtown Sports & Event Center.
The event was part of her campaign’s week-long kickoff dubbed the “Help is on the Way” tour, with rallies taking place in five regions of the commonwealth.
Throughout her roughly 10-minute stump speech, Garrity often described incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro as an elected official more concerned with running for higher office as opposed to addressing the needs of Pennsylvanians.
“For Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania is a stepping stone,” Garrity said. “And for all of us, Pennsylvania is our home.”
Garrity, who is serving her second term as state treasurer, highlighted her small town roots in Bradford County, background in business and her military service.
She also touted the work the state treasurer’s office has done delivering for taxpayers and criticized Shapiro for the ongoing budget impasse.
During her speech, Garrity pinpointed areas of policy where she would advocate for change, if elected. She said she would “unleash energy responsibly,” in the state and cited natural gas under the feet of Pennsylvanians.
She also said fighting crime would be a focus and vowed to work alongside President Donald Trump.
“I will be a partner with President Trump and not a roadblock to make sure our streets are safe,” Garrity said. “So, whether it’s Philadelphia, Pittsburgh or Punxsutawney, when I’m your governor … you’ll see real action in your communities. We need to keep our streets safe.”
Garrity vowed to expand education savings accounts, protect charter schools, and reform public schools.
“It’s time for a governor who actually gets stuff done,” Garrity said, taking a not-so-veiled jab at Shapiro’s “get stuff done” catchphrase.
In a statement, the Pennsylvania Democratic Party linked Garrity to Trump’s agenda and claimed she can’t be trusted to fight on behalf of Pennsylvanians.
“Stacy Garrity has pledged her complete support for Donald Trump’s agenda and has fully embraced a plan that is raising costs, killing jobs, and cutting health care for the people of Southeastern Pennsylvania,” Chairman Eugene DePasquale said in a statement to the Capital-Star.
Shapiro, who was elected governor in 2022 with a double-digit victory over GOP nominee Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), has consistently held positive approval ratings for his job performance.
National ratings outlets like the Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and Inside Elections view Shapiro as the favorite, with each predicting the outcome of the race as a “likely Democratic” victory.
“Defeating Josh Shapiro is not going to be easy,” Garrity said. “But I never back down from a challenge. Not in business, not in service to our country, and not as your state treasurer.”
Bucks County has the distinction of being a county that Shapiro and Garrity both won in their most recent successful campaigns.
Garrity is the only candidate in the GOP race, although Mastriano has not ruled out a 2026 run for the office.
The 2026 primary in Pennsylvania will take place on May 19.
National Guard deployment
Since being sworn in for a second term, Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee in what he calls an effort to combat crime. Garrity said she would support the deployment of guard soldiers to the commonwealth.
Shapiro has criticized Trump for the deployments and told reporters last week that it is his “hope that it will not get to that here in Pennsylvania.”
“I can tell you that we are preparing aggressively on that front,” Shapiro said in Delaware County last Wednesday.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner, a Democrat, held a series of events last week where he lambasted the possibility of Trump deploying the National Guard to the state’s biggest city.
Garrity views it differently.
“I’m retired military police. I have a law enforcement background, so whatever we need to do to make our state’s streets safe is vitally important,” she told reporters on Thursday.
“So, if that means deputizing retired police officers or some of the local folks, that’s fine,” she added. “If it means we need the National Guard, that’s fine too. I’ve worked very closely with the National Guard and the Army Reserve. They’re extremely professional.”
A plea to vote by mail
Before Garrity took the stage, multiple candidates for office and elected officials pleaded with attendees to consider voting by-mail in upcoming elections.
During a successful 2024 cycle, Republicans advocated for vote-by-mail as a part of their “Swamp the Vote” strategy. As a result, Republicans increased their share of voting by mail in the 2024 election, although Democrats still vote by mail in larger numbers.
In August, Trump posted that he was going to “lead a movement” to end mail-in voting.
“I don’t like mail-in voting, but mail-in voting is what we have right now in the state of Pennsylvania, and so we’re gonna have to embrace it until we have a change in the governor’s mansion,” Garrity said in response to a question from the Capital-Star.
“So if you don’t embrace mail-in voting, that’s like being in a hundred-yard dash and giving your opponent a 50-yard head start,” she added. “So while it’s here to stay, I think we have to do everything that we can to embrace it.”
Garrity pointed to Florida being a model for elections.
SEPTA stop-gap
On Sept. 8, Shapiro announced that he was directing state Transportation Secretary Mike Carroll to approve the Southeast Pennsylvania Transportation Authority’s (SEPTA) request to use $394 million of its capital budget – money designated for infrastructure and vehicles – from the Public Transportation Trust Fund (PTTF) for operating expenses. It’s a two-year funding stop-gap for SEPTA.
Mass transit, particularly SEPTA, was a major topic of discussion for the Pennsylvania General Assembly over the past few months.
Garrity told the Capital-Star that she would have preferred the solution that Senate Republicans proposed and passed in August.
“We want SEPTA funded, but it would have also taken care of our roads and bridges, so it helped all 67 counties,” she added.
The GOP proposal, which passed along party lines, would have allowed mass transit agencies to use some of their capital funds for operations, but also required annual fare increases indexed to inflation.
Democrats and Shapiro rejected that proposal in favor of increasing the share of sales tax dedicated to transit agencies.