The Pa. GOP and state Dems finalize their endorsements for the 2026 governor’s race
With the candidate endorsements, the November election is all but officially set.
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Republican and Democratic Parties locked in their endorsements for the 2026 governor’s race Saturday at dueling committee meetings in the state’s capital, as they present different visions of the future for Pennsylvania and America.
The state GOP endorsed Jason Richey, a longtime Pittsburgh attorney and chair of the Allegheny County Republicans, for lieutenant governor to run alongside its endorsed gubernatorial candidate, Treasurer Stacy Garrity. On the other side of town, the state Democratic Party resoundingly endorsed Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis for reelection to a second term.
By finalizing their endorsements for governor and lieutenant governor, the November election is all but officially set. The candidates are expected to be formally nominated by their parties in the May 19 primary.
Garrity would be the state’s first female governor and would be a strong conservative leader who will protect the state from becoming “California East,” Richey said as he described another term under Shapiro in his acceptance remarks.
State Republicans took the unprecedented step to endorse Garrity in September 2025, in an effort to give her six additional months to campaign for governor and coalesce support. However, Garrity did not announce Richey as her choice for running mate until last month. Several candidates had turned down the job, as Garrity faces an uphill battle to challenge Shapiro, a popular moderate Democratic governor, in a midterm election already advantageous to Democrats.
There was no shortage of attacks on Shapiro at the state GOP meeting.
“[Shapiro] is a charlatan. He is a phony who tries to talk like [former President Barack] Obama and has done nothing to help move this state forward,” Richey said. “Today is not just another meeting. Today is not just another endorsement. Today is the moment that the Pennsylvania Republican Party stands together and resolves to take back our commonwealth.”
Garrity last month received the coveted nod from the leader of the Republican Party, President Donald Trump, who called her an “America First Patriot.”
Meanwhile, for state Democratic Party committee members, their attention was not on Garrity and Richey. They want to make Trump a lame-duck president by flipping four congressional seats and secure Shapiro a Democratic trifecta by retaining control of the state House and flipping the state Senate for the first time in more than 30 years.
“These are people who are lawless. They are without a conscience, without a backbone, without any sense of right and wrong,” said U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D., Pa.), describing the GOP colleagues she wants to unseat. “Four seats. That will be the U.S. House majority. We can get the gavels in our hands, and we can make Trump an even lamer duck than he already is, and we can move on with impeachments, convictions, whatever we can do.”
Different outlooks on Pennsylvania and the U.S.
To Republicans, Pennsylvania is falling behind, citing its U.S. News & World Report rankings as 41st in Best Overall States, 38th for its economy, and 39th for education. Trump’s White House, alternately, is heavily invested in Pennsylvania’s success, often inviting its GOP county commissioners to visit, said Lancaster County Commissioner Josh Parsons, delivering the GOP commissioners’ update to the state committee.
“We’re going to keep Republicans in the majority in Congress, because if not, we’ve seen this show before. We know what’s going to happen: investigations, impeachments, and, worst of all, they will stop the agenda that Trump has created,” said state GOP chair Greg Rothman, noting Trump’s efforts to lower prices, end the war in Gaza, and more.
For Democrats, it’s America that’s on the wrong track, while Pennsylvania is succeeding despite the “chaos in Washington,” as Shapiro described in his endorsement acceptance speech.
That positive view of Pennsylvania is due to Shapiro’s leadership in the state, said Pennsylvania Democratic Party chair Eugene DePasquale.
“You look at the polls today, Donald Trump is at his historic low mark, while the governor is at a historic high mark,” DePasquale added. “Why is he at that high mark? They see the state heading in the right direction. They see him fighting the Trump administration to protect Pennsylvanians.”
Candidates will begin circulating petitions later this month to secure a spot on the ballot. No candidates are expected to challenge Shapiro or Davis in the primary. There is at least one write-in campaign being run, for State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin), who declined to challenge Shapiro for a second time. He lost to Shapiro by more than 15 percentage points in 2022.