Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Josh Shapiro Wins Second Term as Governor, Defeats Stacy Garrity, AP Projects

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania: Gov. Josh Shapiro has won a second term as governor of Pennsylvania. The Associated Press called the race for Shapiro at 8:01 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday, one minute after polls closed at 8 p.m. Shapiro defeated Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity and won another four years in office. He ran alongside Lt. Gov. Austin Davis.

The call came fast in Harrisburg. More than 100 Shapiro supporters had gathered at the Penn Harris Hotel, a few miles from the state Capitol, and they cheered at 8:02 p.m. when the result came over the sound system, WESA reported. Members of the Shapiro administration and state Democratic Party chair Eugene DePasquale were in the crowd. The governor did not immediately make an appearance.

Counting continued across the state after the call. In the Associated Press count later on election night, with 15.31 percent of precincts reporting, Shapiro had 643,419 votes and Garrity had 159,995. Libertarian Ken Krawchuk was also on the ballot. Election night results are unofficial until county election boards and the Pennsylvania Department of State certify them.

Shapiro campaigned on his first term record. He pointed to investments in public education, law enforcement staffing, job creation and the continuation of free school breakfast, FOX 29 reported. His stated second term priorities include raising the minimum wage, writing abortion rights into state law and taxing skill game machines.

Money and polling pointed the same way all year. Polls showed Shapiro ahead by double digits throughout the campaign, and he out-fundraised Garrity by about 10 to 1. WESA reported that Shapiro began the year with $30 million in the bank, added $40.5 million by late October and spent $66 million by that point. Garrity had raised $9.2 million by late October and spent $6.8 million.

Garrity is a retired U.S. Army Reserve colonel and Iraq War veteran from Bradford County. She was first elected treasurer in 2020 and won a second term in 2024, when she set a record for the most votes received by a statewide candidate in Pennsylvania. President Donald Trump endorsed her bid. She ran on increasing oil and gas production, lower taxes and lower state spending. Her supporters gathered Tuesday night at a golf course in Tunkhannock, about 60 miles from her hometown.

Shapiro has never lost a race. He won elections for the state House, chaired the Montgomery County commissioners and served as state attorney general before his first win for governor in 2022, when he beat Republican Doug Mastriano by 15 percentage points. In the final week he campaigned for Democrats up and down the ballot. At a Monday rally near his hometown in Montgomery County, he told supporters the state had "the opportunity to flip four Congressional seats" and build a Democratic majority in both houses of the legislature in Harrisburg.