PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Democratic incumbent Josh Shapiro has been reelected as governor of Pennsylvania, defeating his Republican opponent, state treasurer Stacy Garrity.
He talked about the successes of his first term and “getting sh*t done,” including a sly reference to the 12-day repair of I-95 — "you want someone who knows how to build bridges and fix them too.”
The Associated Press called the race just minutes after polls closed on Tuesday. Shapiro had already racked up over 200,000 votes; Garrity had about 58,000.
“I could not be more humble and grateful for the opportunity to keep serving our commonwealth. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for the trust and the confidence,” Shapiro said in his election night speech.
“This is a good night for our commonwealth, and it’s looking like it could be a pretty good night for our country, too.”
Shapiro said that in his next term, he will continue the fight to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour and focus on affordability.
“I will again ask lawmakers to codify my executive order on data centers. The strictest guardrails in the nation,” he said.
Shapiro has now won four statewide races.
Garrity, a two-term state treasurer and Iraq War veteran, trailed Shapiro in polls by double digits during the campaign. She was an ardent supporter of President Donald Trump and his policies, including his stances on taxes and immigration.
In her concession speech, she emphasized the need to keep elected officials transparent.
“Leadership matters, accountability matters, and putting Pennsylvania families first matters. And tonight’s results, they don’t change that. They only make our responsibility more important.”
Garrity had a considerable disadvantage against a relatively popular and recognizable incumbent. She said her party made it difficult to overcome the resource gap.
“Certainly I wish we would’ve had more resources come in earlier. We did well after the debate, but the early voting had already started. There could have been a lot more done. Obviously, there could have been more money; there could have been more advertising. There could have been a lot of other things, but I’ve never relied on anybody else.”
Republicans have lost the last four gubernatorial elections in Pennsylvania.
