By John Cole | Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Pennsylvania Republicans secured big victories in the 2024 election, but 2026 was clearly on the minds of a few potential candidates for governor at an annual gathering of conservatives in the suburbs of Harrisburg.
“Next November, the Keystone State will send a Republican to the governor’s mansion,” said state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.
“In order for us to have an America First agenda, we’ve got to have the governor’s office,” U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) said. “My friends, we definitely need a governor who has a plan for Pennsylvania, not a plan for Pennsylvania Avenue.”
Both elected officials and potential 2026 hopefuls delivered speeches at the 36th annual Pennsylvania Leadership Conference in Camp Hill, Cumberland County, and mingled with conservative activists. Over the past few months, both have said that they are considering challenging Gov. Josh Shapiro in the 2026 race.
During the successful 2024 election for Republicans which saw Donald Trump carry the White House, and Dave McCormick defeat longtime incumbent U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.), Garrity secured a second term to serve as state treasurer. She broke the record for most votes received in a statewide election during her victory over Democratic challenger Erin McClelland.
Meuser, who was first elected to Congress in 2018, cruised to reelection in November to represent the conservative 9th Congressional District, which spans a large portion of central and northeast Pennsylvania.
Both are allies of President Trump.
They both spoke at length about their support for Trump’s agenda, including his administration’s actions on the economy, support for natural gas, immigration, and foreign policy.
Garrity, serving her second term as state Treasurer, and Meuser, who was the Secretary of Revenue under former Gov. Tom Corbett, both touted their experience with leading offices tasked with handling taxpayer dollars.
They talked about that as an asset for Pennsylvanians, while also promoting the cuts to the federal government made by billionaire Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“Who here is excited about what Elon and DOGE are doing,” Garrity asked to the crowd which applauded. “Well, guess what? My office is doing that right here in Pennsylvania.”
Meuser also applauded DOGE for “attacking debt, overspending, and government expansion.”
“The left and the swamp are fighting back like their life depends upon it, because I think it does,” Meuser said about DOGE.
Following their speeches, Garrity and Meuser confirmed their interest in potentially running for governor and said they’d have to make a decision in the next few months.
“It’s really an honor that so many people have asked me to think about it,” Garrity told the Capital-Star on Saturday. “We’d have to make a decision, probably in the summer.”
“I think the personal decision needs to be made relatively soon,” Meuser told reporters on Saturday. “And the rest of the pieces of the plan need to be brought together, but I would imagine just a public announcement can wait until mid-summer, so maybe August 1, or something like that.”
“I’m also aware of the demands of those who want to support from the party as well as President Trump,” he added. “So, I wouldn’t run without his support.”
Meuser added that he thinks it’ll be difficult to defeat any incumbent governor, which is why he believes the party needs to be united in order to defeat Shapiro.
During the 2022 primary election, the Pennsylvania Republican Party did not endorse a candidate for governor in the crowded race, while Trump delivered a last minute endorsement to state Sen. Doug Mastriano.
After Democrats won three straight gubernatorial races in Pennsylvania, all nearly by double digits, Garrity and Meuser believe the Commonwealth needs a change.
Garrity said she thinks the message should be the party asking voters if they are happy with the way things are going in the state.
“I mean, we spend, every year, billions more, I mean billions: This year, $3.5 billion more than what we bring in,” Garrity told the Capital-Star.
Meuser also argued that there’s been “no results” in Pennsylvania.
“There’s a lot of talk. There’s little action,” Meuser told reporters. “What is better in Pennsylvania over the last 10 years, except we have a $51 billion spending.”
Meuser also claimed Pennsylvania would be better off with a “pro-energy governor.”
“We’re being left behind,” Meuser said.
However, Shapiro has consistently held a positive approval rating.
Mastriano, the GOP nominee for governor in 2022 who lost to Shapiro by double digits, is also reportedly weighing another run for the office. He was not in attendance.
In a recent radio interview with WJFP-AM 740, Mastriano floated teaming up with Garrity to run as a ticket, saying the two would be “unbeatable.”
Candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run in separate primaries in Pennsylvania, although some endorse one another in those races. In 2022, Shapiro endorsed Austin Davis for lieutenant governor, who won the Democratic Party primary over state Rep. Brian Sims and Ray Sosa. Mastriano endorsed Teddy Daniels for lieutenant governor, who ended up finishing in third place in the nine-candidate GOP race.
Garrity told the Capital-Star on Saturday that “we really haven’t had any conversations,” when asked about teaming up with Mastriano to run.
“I have a great working relationship with the senator,” Garrity said. “He does a lot of good things for veterans, and I like what he’s doing, but we have not talked about it.”
During Mastriano’s 2022 bid for governor, Shapiro’s campaign spent money on an ad that ran during the GOP primary linking Mastriano to Trump.
Mastriano helped organize panels that falsely questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election, and buses to attend Trump’s rally on January 6, 2021, before a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential results and keep a defeated president in power. Mastriano said he did not enter the Capitol building that day or cross police lines, although some of his Democratic colleagues in the state Senate called for him to resign for being in attendance at the rally.
Following Trump’s 2020 defeat to Joe Biden, Meuser joined seven of his Pennsylvania Republican colleagues in voting against certifying the election results, despite no evidence supporting any election fraud claims that would have changed the outcome of the election.
Garrity also seemingly questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election during a speech in January 2021, but has since walked those comments back.
Garrity and Meuser support Trump’s tariffs
Trump’s recent announcement of taxing imported products from around the world was not a major theme at the conservative gathering. However, Garrity and Meuser both expressed their support for Trump’s tariff policy during their speeches to attendees.
Business owners who purchase goods from outside the U.S. will have to pay the increased duty rates to bring the products over the border, unless Trump carves out exceptions for certain industries.
“He’s restoring fair trade balance with the United States and our trading partners by putting tariffs on countries that place tariffs on American goods,” Garrity said on Friday.
She described his tariff policy, along with other parts of his agenda as “common sense measures” that are good for the American people and a “death sentence for the evil forces at play within our own country and abroad.”
“Tariffs, we’ve heard a little bit about lately, are being used to increase domestic production,” Meuser said on Saturday. “And ladies and gentlemen, seriously, over the last 25 years, free trade has been equivalent to unfair trade for the United States of America, and we’re correcting it, and we’re correcting it on Trump time.”
“The markets are having a tough time dealing with that, but he’s got his fingers on the pulse of this situation, and I do believe it’s going to work out in the manner that it’s intended,” he added.
Following Trump’s tariff announcement on Wednesday, it was the worst week for the United States stock market since the coronavirus pandemic.
Garrity expressed optimism that Trump’s tariff policies will benefit the American worker, saying “these countries, you can see it already, they are going to work with us.”
“I come from the private sector, and we had to shut down a business unit, 250 jobs. You know where they went? China,” she added. “I think anything that we’re doing to bring manufacturing jobs back into America is a great thing.”
Meuser said the markets reacting the past few days is “obviously not a favorable situation,” but said Trump’s plan is a good one. He believes the trade agreements and tariffs are “going to open up new markets” for the United States.
“So, what we’re going to do is work through the tariffs. We’re going to negotiate what’s best for America, but equivalent for the world,” Meuser told reporters. “In the past, it was very imbalanced. So, we need to create the balance.”
According to reporting by States Newsroom, rising prices under Trump’s tariff scenario are likely to cost an extra $2,400 to $3,400 per family, according to the Yale Budget Lab, with most of the financial burden falling on the lowest-income households.
An analysis from the Peterson Institute on International Economics estimated the typical American household would lose over $1,200, just from the 25% tariffs already imposed on China, Canada and Mexico.
Supporters of Trump argue that the tariffs levied against foreign countries will help promote American manufacturing and jobs.
Shapiro blasted Trump’s tariff stance on Wednesday, calling it “disastrous, reckless policy” and expressed concern about how it will impact businesses and consumers in the state.
“I just wish the president wasn’t working against us as recklessly as he is,” Shapiro said Wednesday. “This tariff war that he is starting, this button that he is pushing is going to have one effect, and that effect is to drive up costs on consumers and businesses throughout Pennsylvania at a time where we can’t afford that, and it’s going to make our lives way more difficult.”
“Never say never,” Pa. Senator Scott Martin says.
State Sen. Scott Martin (R-Lancaster) also delivered an address at the conference on Friday. As the Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he spent the bulk of his speech talking about the upcoming budget and expressing his concerns about Shapiro’s spending proposal.
“We’re kind of standing on an edge of a cliff,” Martin said. “Are we going to turn around and walk back down to a healthy Pennsylvania? Or are we going to allow this governor, his insatiable appetite to just keep spending more money, help take us over the cliff?”
In the previous gubernatorial race, Martin considered a run for the office and even launched an exploratory committee, but ultimately decided against joining the race in 2022 after breaking his leg.
Martin told reporters on Friday that he was in attendance at the conference to outline the goals of the Senate Republican Caucus, but said he isn’t ruling out a run just yet for 2026.
“I’m not going to ever get ahead of my family on something like that either, but people are talking to me about it, but we’ll take it as it goes and see where the winds blow,” Martin said. “But right now, I’m really focused in my current role.”
“You never say never for anything,” he added, “but at the end of the day, there’s a lot to weigh out with that.”
Are Democrats gaining momentum?
While the 2024 election was a success for Republicans in the Keystone State, Democrats in the state have already secured two special election victories this year. Democrat Dan Goughnour’s victory for the state House’s 35th District ensured that Republicans will remain in the minority in that chamber.
However, Democrat James Malone’s victory in a special election for the state Senate’s 36th District over Lancaster County Republican Commissioner Josh Parsons has garnered national attention, since Trump won the district over Vice President Kamala Harris by more than 15% in November. It’s also the first time since 1879 that a Democrat will represent Lancaster County in the Pennsylvania Senate.
Despite the upset victory, Republicans said they are confident it’s not a sign of things to come, with some citing voter registration gains made by the party in recent years.
Garrity wins straw poll
As-is tradition at Pennsylvania Leadership Conference, results of a straw poll of attendees are announced at the conclusion of the three-day gathering.
Scott Davis, President and CEO of the Cybersecurity Association of Pennsylvania, polled attendees on a wide range of issues, including the GOP race for governor. He said 267 people participated.
Garrity led the way with 41.1% of attendees saying she should be the GOP candidate for governor in 2026, followed by Meuser with 9.13%, and Mastriano in 3rd place with 6.39%. State Sens. Kristin Phillips-Hill (R-York) and Martin were tied with 2.28% of the vote.
Garrity also topped the previous year’s straw poll, although it was much more divided with her only tallying 7% of the vote.
2021 was the last time PA Leadership Conference conducted a poll one year prior to a gubernatorial race. Mastriano was the preferred GOP candidate in that poll, who later became the nominee one year later.
Pennsylvania Capital-Star is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Pennsylvania Capital-Star maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Tim Lambert for questions: info@penncapital-star.com.
Advertisement
Convenient Legal Access to High Quality Cannabis Just A Few Minutes Away!
