In what could be some very good news for Republicans headed into the 2026 elections, a Republican candidate with a history of leadership who appears to be sane, good, and MAGA has entered the gubernatorial race in the longtime swing state of Pennsylvania, creating the opportunity for Republicans to flip the state’s leadership red.
As background, Pennsylvania is a key battleground state because it commands a massive 20 electoral college votes and is amenable to the MAGA agenda and talking points, making it one that can potentially be won over to the GOP through hard work and smart messaging, as President Trump managed to accomplish in 2024.
However, while it went for President Trump in the 2024 presidential election, it is currently controlled at the state level by Democrats, including Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro. It is expected that Shapiro will run for re-election in the 2026 election, to serve a second term, but he has not yet announced his plans.
Running on the GOP side is Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, a retired Army Colonel and longtime leader who has served in the Pennsylvania Treasurer role since 2021. Garrity announced her candidacy on the morning of August 18, sharing a campaign video and captioning it, “I am running to become Pennsylvania’s next Governor. Will you join my team?”
Beginning the video, Garrity quickly went over her leadership record and commitment to American values, stating, “I’m Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Stacey Garrity, when I enlisted to serve in the military, I took a solemn oath to defend our country and to honor her principles, and I worked very hard to live up to that commitment.”
Continuing, the campaign ad’s voiceover commented on her lengthy record of service in the military, providing, “Stacey Garrity not only served three deployments in Iraq, including Operation Desert Storm, but Stacy also reached the rank of colonel and earned the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star twice.”
Cutting back to Garrity speaking, the ad then showed her saying that she’d work to correct the state’s Democrat-created problems, saying, “Today, I’m announcing that I’m running to become Pennsylvania’s next governor, and I’m giving you and your family my solemn oath that I will work hard every day to fix the problems Josh Shapiro has created.”
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The ad then returned to the narration voice, which skewered Gov. Shapiro with a vengeance. It stated, “While Josh Shapiro has been spending his time running for president and fundraising in California and other liberal states, raising money from far left mega donors like Bloomberg and Soros, critical problems in Pennsylvania have been ignored. Shapiro has even failed to get the state budget done on time, which may lead to our schools not receiving the funding they need. That’s unconscionable.”
Later, the ad commented on her work rooting out fraud as Treasurer, stating, “As Pennsylvania State Treasurer, Stacey Garrity has made ethics in her office and full transparency a top priority. And Stacey has exposed millions of dollars in fraud and inefficiency and returned over $1 billion directly to taxpayers. Stacey Garrity is also a strong ally of President Trump, and like the president, supports protecting health care and welfare benefits for vulnerable Americans, while requiring able-bodied recipients to work for their benefits and ending benefits for those here illegally.”
Watch her here:
On X, the Calvin Coolidge Project account quickly highlighted the campaign video, noting, “🚨New: Pennsylvania Republican Treasurer Stacy Garrity has officially announced that she is running for Governor of Pennsylvania in 2026 against incumbent Democrat Josh Shapiro @GarrityForPA is a retired Army Colonel as well.”
Commenters on the post were largely positive, saying things like, “She’s a great candidate”, “Excellent news for down ballot republicans in PA”, “A True Patriot! I have volunteering for her since her 1st campaign for Treasurer”, and “She probably won’t win, but will give Shapiro a fight.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video