The Rising Star of Pennsylvania’s Stacy Garrity
Here she comes!
That would be one Stacy Garrity.
Currently the popular state treasurer of Pennsylvania, Stacy is to be the Republican nominee for governor, officially anointed in the May primary.
And as she campaigns for the state’s top job, the job currently held by Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro — who is a wannabe 2028 Democratic presidential candidate — Treasurer Garrity can lay claim to her own election record.
Running for re-election in 2024, she defeated her Democrat opponent with a mind-bending 3.5 million votes. She is noted by Wikipedia as receiving “the most cast for any statewide candidate in Pennsylvania history.”
To say the least, she has a considerable record behind her. Graduating from Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania with a degree in finance and economics, she went on to serve in the U.S. Army Reserve, eventually earning the rank of colonel. During the Iraq War, she was stationed in southern Iraq and was deployed three times, earning two Bronze Stars and the Legion of Merit.
From the military, she entered the world of private business, becoming a vice president at Global Tungsten & Powders Group, the company producing tungsten and metallurgical goods.
Having done well in both the military and business, she next turned to politics. A first outing had her losing a special election for a Pennsylvania congressional seat. The second time around, she scored big, winning the election as Pennsylvania state treasurer. Notably, she stood out for having the state purchase $20 million in Israel Bonds, raising the state’s investment in those bonds to some $56 million. And as noted, running for re-election, Garrity won more than 3.5 million votes, making history as the candidate winning the most votes cast for any statewide candidate in all of Pennsylvania history.
One of the weird facts of American political history is that so-called “off-year elections,” i.e., elections that do not have candidates running for president? That would be that these elections frequently produce a party’s rising stars. History is filled with examples.
In 1962, the decidedly well-known former Vice President Richard Nixon was the GOP nominee for governor of California. Amazing, the pundits of the day said the GOP lost, but four years later, in 1966, movie actor Ronald Reagan came out of the closet and was, in fact, elected governor of California, launching what became a seriously historic political career. Across the country, four years later, Georgia Democrats nominated former State Senator Jimmy Carter for governor. And through the decades, early and later, these off-year elections have produced serious stars for both parties. Young Richard Nixon won his congressional seat in the 1946 GOP post-World War II tidal wave, repeating the feat four years later in the 1950 congressional elections as he rose to capture a California U.S. Senate seat.
The list of “rising stars” elected in these “off-year” elections also includes future president Franklin Roosevelt, winning his first election as a state senator in the 1910 off-year election in New York. Another future Democrat president, John F. Kennedy, won his first race for Congress in the 1946 off-year elections. JFK’s vice president, Lyndon Johnson, won his elective start with a 1937 special election victory. And that 1966 election also produced the election of a young Houston businessman, George H.W. Bush, as a U.S. congressman.
There are endless examples out there, all of which illustrate one thing. Once unknown aspiring politicians can start down the political path and can, in fact, win. With a win that launches them on a political path leading to serious prominence and major service as a governor, U.S. senator, cabinet secretary, and, in a number of cases, as a president.
Which brings us back to Pennsylvania’s Stacy Garrity. A seriously popular state treasurer, she is now running a decidedly serious campaign for governor.
And against a Democrat opponent, Governor Shapiro, whom she cites for really running now for governor to run for president in 2028.
And as always happens in politics, one of two things will happen. She will either win or lose. And here’s where an interesting aspect of Pennsylvania politics kicks in. Because of its size and the money needed to get elected, it sometimes takes more than one election race to win. In relatively recent decades, Republican Arlen Specter lost races for mayor of Philadelphia, governor, and senator of Pennsylvania before winning what would become his then-long-held U.S. Senate seat. And holding it for a record five terms. So too did Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey Sr. lose statewide races repeatedly, finally winning a governor race on his fourth try.
Pennsylvania is not Vermont. Which is to say it’s a big state, and it costs real money and time to win a statewide election. Garrity has seriously proven her ability to win a state election, having done so twice.
Now comes the 2026 election.
Somewhere out there in the country are the names of soon-to-be rising stars of both parties. They are running for the House, the Senate, and some — like Pennsylvania’s Stacy Garrity — are running for governor of their states.
Suffice to say, Pennsylvania in 2026 is privileged to have a rising star on its ballot.
And that would be state treasurer and gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity.
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