Pa. State Sen. Doug Mastriano won’t run for governor again in 2026, after months of teasing a potential campaign launch

HARRISBURG — State Sen. Doug Mastriano will not seek the GOP nomination for Pennsylvania again this year, after months of teasing a potential run to the chagrin of establishment Republicans.

Mastriano’s announcement Wednesday now clears the way for State Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who was endorsed by the state GOP last fall as the party’s best pick to challenge Gov. Josh Shapiro this November.

“We believe, with full peace in our hearts, God has not called us to run for governor,” Mastriano said in a Facebook Live video stream alongside his wife, Rebbie.

He did not endorse Garrity as part of his announcement, nor did he mention her by name.

“For you to have a Republican governor here, the grassroots is going to have to back the candidate,” Mastriano said, referring to Garrity.

Republicans chose Garrity early — endorsing her more than a year before the 2026 election — in an effort to avoid a crowded primary like the one that eventually led to Mastriano’s nomination in 2022. They hope that a candidate like Garrity, who has won statewide elections twice and dethroned Shapiro for receiving the most votes of any state-level candidate, will have a better chance at beating Shapiro, or at least, preventing a down-ballot blowout in an election that already is likely to favor Democrats.

Mastriano, a two-term state senator representing Gettysburg and the surrounding area, publicly criticized the state party for endorsing Garrity so early, and has repeatedly said that their endorsement would not deter him from getting in the race.

» READ MORE: Stacy Garrity gets state GOP endorsement for governor: ‘Help is on the way’

In a statement, Garrity said she respected Mastriano’s decision not to run, calling him a “strong voice for faith, family and freedom.”

“I look forward to working with him to restore integrity, fiscal responsibility, and common-sense leadership in our commonwealth,” Garrity added.

Mastriano, a former U.S. Army colonel with top-secret clearance, built a grassroots online following during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic for his resistance to business shutdowns. That support continued to grow after the 2020 presidential election as he promoted President Donald Trump’s false claims that Pennsylvania’s election results were rigged. He has remained a staunch supporter of Trump ever since.

Trump’s advisers, however, feared that Mastriano’s presence on the ticket would hurt Republicans up and down the ticket despite him leading Garrity in private polling by 21 points, Politico reported in July.

Mastriano and his wife spent much of his 20-minute announcement on Wednesday reminiscing on their movement since 2020: their daily virtual fireside chats during COVID-19 closures and their other attempts to reopen the state’s businesses amid the pandemic, their efforts to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results for Trump, Mastriano’s 2022 gubernatorial run, and the GOP’s electoral successes in 2024.

However, things are different now, the couple said. The grassroots supporters aren’t as unified as they once were, and the state party overstepped in its early endorsement.

“Bottom line is: They don’t have the last say,” said Rebbie Mastriano, in a reminder to their supporters. “You have the last say.”

In the 2022 primary, the state GOP declined to endorse candidates in the gubernatorial or U.S. Senate races. That led to a crowded, nine-candidate GOP primary ballot for governor that was advantageous for Mastriano, who had built name recognition through his anti-lockdown and 2020 election efforts.

Democrats saw Mastriano and his far-right views as an easier opponent in the general election. Shapiro, who at the time was state attorney general and did not face a primary opponent, ran an ad in the GOP primary to try to ensure that he would face the right-wing senator in the general election, where he later cruised to victory.

Shapiro is expected to announce his reelection campaign on Thursday, beginning his 2026 effort with a record-setting $30 million in his war chest and polls continuing to show him with a more than 50% approval rating.

The state Democratic Party responded to Mastriano’s announcement with fresh attacks on Garrity, calling her a “far-right, toxic candidate” and noted some of the areas where she and Mastriano agree, including that she denied the 2020 election results and her past opposition to abortion. (She now says she would not support a state abortion ban.)

As of Wednesday, no GOP candidate had announced their candidacy for lieutenant governor. Garrity told The Inquirer last month she was vetting candidates and planned to announce who she’d endorse as her running mate in February, ahead of the next state GOP meeting.

Mastriano last year floated the idea of running with Garrity, though he implied he would be at the top of the ticket.

“I’m still a state senator, still fighting in Harrisburg for you here,” Mastriano said Wednesday. “We’re still in the fight.”

“We’re going to keep this movement together,” he added.