HARRISBURG — Should Stacy Garrity win the Republican nod to run for Pennsylvania governor next year, she’ll need to vie for the financial support of many of the same donors who contributed to Democrat Josh Shapiro’s electoral success.
Garrity won races for Pennsylvania treasurer during the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections without facing primary challengers. In those efforts, she raised a combined $3.7 million.
By comparison, former Gov. Tom Wolf and the three Republicans who wanted to deny him reelection in 2018 collectively raised $57.4 million.
Observers expect that Garrity’s mostly untested ability to raise major funds could be a key litmus test of her capacity to run a competitive campaign in 2026.
“I don’t think you have to outraise [Shapiro] to win or be competitive,” Sam Chen, a Lehigh Valley-based GOP consultant, told Spotlight PA. “But if she’s not in the $25 to $30 million range, I don’t think it’s a race.”
Garrity, who announced her candidacy last week, faces a tough race against Shapiro, a popular incumbent running in a midterm expected to benefit the party that does not hold the presidency, if American political traditions hold.
At least one other GOP candidate may be waiting in the wings to challenge Garrity for the nomination — archconservative state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R., Franklin), who thrashed a well-funded field of establishment candidates in 2022 due to his deep grassroots support among the party’s base.
But lacking institutional support, including access to big campaign checks, he went on to lose by double digits to Shapiro in November. It’s an outcome few in the GOP wish to repeat.
In her campaigns for treasurer, Garrity raised money from traditional Republican sources, including business leaders, energy firms, and utility companies. Wealthy party stalwarts from across the GOP’s ideological spectrum have also been contributors, including former gubernatorial candidates Scott Wagner and Dave White, as well as old school power brokers Bob Asher and Andrew Reilly, and Trump acolytes such as Jim Worthington and Ted Christian.
“Treasurer Garrity plans to do exactly what she did in her previous races: run a strong, disciplined campaign that resonates with voters and raises the resources needed to win,” a spokesperson said in an email to Spotlight PA. “She understands this will be an expensive race and she's prepared to raise the funds necessary to compete and win."
But Garrity has also historically benefited from donations that, in a head-to-head match-up, will likely favor Shapiro.
Take organized labor. Unions, including those for laborers, steamfitters, and electricians, have provided Garrity with roughly $320,000 since 2020 — almost 9% of the campaign cash she has received during her political career. If forced to choose between the two, the state’s unions will likely pick Shapiro, a point that Philadelphia labor leader Ryan Boyer recently made clear.
“The full force of our membership and resources will be deployed to defeat her efforts” if Garrity runs against “our friend” Shapiro, he wrote in a social media statement on behalf of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council last month after Garrity announced.
Boyer’s announcement wasn't particularly surprising. Organized labor tends to back Democrats over Republicans. Almost all of the 33 unions that donated to Garrity have also donated to Shapiro since 2022.
Labor won’t be the only class of Garrity donors that may have to pick sides. She has also received nearly $200,000 from Harrisburg lobbyists or their firms, which often gravitate toward influential and rising state politicians in both parties, such as Shapiro and top legislative leaders. Twenty-one out of 33 lobbyists or firms that gave to Garrity have also given to Shapiro.
Her single biggest lobby shop donor is GSL Public Affairs and Communications, an affiliate of Reading-based law firm Stevens & Lee; it represents a mix of energy companies, public utilities, health systems, and tech firms. The firm and its lobbyists have given Garrity $84,000, including paying for her to host a 2023 fundraiser at a suburban Harrisburg country club.
Playing both sides is normal in political giving, said Christopher Borick, a political science professor at Muhlenberg College, especially for individuals and organizations that are less ideological.
“It seems almost odd that you would write a check to people competing against each other,” Borick said. “But it's often engaged in because it's seen as a way to protect yourself and your interest.”
Money alone doesn’t win races. But it does allow candidates to hire staff, pay for political ads, and fund the travel that smoothes the path to a statewide electoral victory.
Pennsylvania law places no limits on the amount that individuals and political committees can donate to political campaigns. Neither Garrity nor Shapiro must file new campaign finance reports under state law until next February.
Small donor support
While the loss of dollars to Shapiro would leave a hole, Garrity may have a few strengths in her quest for cash. First, there may be national donors and other big spenders, like Pennsylvania billionaire stock trader Jeff Yass, willing to step up.
Her two biggest donors since 2020 are the Commonwealth Leaders Fund and Commonwealth Children's Choice Fund, part of the network of political committees mostly financed by Yass. Combined, they’ve provided Garrity with $720,000 since 2020. That’s roughly 20% of her total fundraising.
Yass, a registered libertarian who backs alternatives to public schools, has funneled tens of millions of dollars into state politics in recent years. He usually backs Republicans in statewide races, and Garrity has already expressed support for school choice initiatives.
But it isn’t guaranteed that Yass will spend on the race. Groups funded by him were notably quiet in the 2022 gubernatorial race against Shapiro, who is a rare Democratic supporter of using public resources to send students to private schools.
A spokesperson for Commonwealth Partners, a conservative organization that often serves as a funnel for Yass’ political dollars, did not reply to a request for comment.
Beyond Yass, a cavalcade of other national GOP groups and donors will also likely express interest in the race. These groups, likely drawn by a chance to ding Shapiro’s brand ahead of his rumored run for president in the future, could also fill gaps in Garrity’s existing fundraising network, Chen said.
There are already a few signs of this. Among Garrity’s donors is Adam Kidan, a Florida-based GOP donor (and convicted accomplice of DC lobbyist Jack Abramoff). According to LNP | LancasterOnline, Kidan has close relationships with Trump and other national GOP donors. Billionaire hedge fund manager Daniel Och and heiress Margaretta Taylor are also among Garrity’s supporters with deep pockets.
Garrity has also been backed by individuals linked to small Pennsylvania manufacturers of everything from suction cups to ribbons, as well as individuals linked to metal production, the field in which she used to be an executive. According to a Spotlight PA analysis, she’s received almost $100,000 from such donors.
David Taylor, chief executive of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association, has personally donated $3,000 to Garrity, while his organization’s PAC has chipped in another $5,000.
He told Spotlight PA that the commonwealth’s business owners see Garrity as one of their own, and the sort of leader “they haven't had … in state government in a long time.”
Garrity has also raked in small checks from local Republican organizations, some 30 and counting, and other individual donors. Donations of less than $250 have counted for about 12% of her fundraising. Often, lower-profile state candidates struggle to raise funds from these sources.
For a candidate whose highest-profile race has so far been for a state row office, Chen argued this shows some genuine grassroots enthusiasm for Garrity that she’s earned through a busy schedule of barnstorming.
“Everyone in GOP politics knows — if you need a keynote, call Stacy Garrity,” Chen said.
Shapiro is a notoriously strong fundraiser. His campaign set records in 2022, topping $68 million raised, and he entered 2025 with $11 million in the bank — about six times what former Gov. Tom Wolf had at this point before his 2018 reelection campaign.
A mix of small donors, established state interests, and national megadonors, like former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman, have contributed.