An 'America First Patriot': President Donald Trump endorses Stacy Garrity for Pennsylvania governor

Katie Bernard and Gillian McGoldrick, The Philadelphia Inquirer on Jan 28, 2026

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PHILADELPHIA — President Donald Trump endorsed Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity for governor Tuesday evening, awarding her the coveted nod from the leader of the Republican Party as she tries to unseat the popular Democratic incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro in November.

The Trump endorsement comes as Shapiro is on a national media blitz to advertise his memoir released this week — and as he seeks to broaden his national reach amid his rumored 2028 presidential aspirations.

The nod also comes as Trump faces declining approval ratings and increased scrutiny over his administration’s use of ICE in Minneapolis following a second killing of an American citizen by federal immigration agents. Shapiro, during his media appearances, has been an outspoken critic of Trump over ICE’s presence in Minneapolis, saying the agency’s mission is “broken” and “must be terminated.”

In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared Garrity “WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN,” and stated that as governor, she would work to grow the economy, strengthen the military, keep borders secure and safeguard elections, among other priorities.

“Stacy is a true America First Patriot, who has been with me from the beginning,” Trump wrote.

Garrity, the state’s second-term treasurer, has led the little-known office without controversy and boasts that her staff has blocked nearly $2 billion in improper payments. The retired U.S. Army colonel in 2024 broke the record for highest number of votes received in a state-level race in Pennsylvania, and she quickly earned the support of the state party establishment last year.

In a statement Tuesday, Garrity said she was honored to receive Trump’s endorsement, adding that the president has “been a voice for hardworking Americans who have been left behind.”

“Josh Shapiro is President Trump’s number one adversary, and I am looking forward to working with President Trump and his team to defeat Josh Shapiro this November,” Garrity said.

Garrity is a longtime Trump supporter from rural Bradford County, who in 2022 at a Trump rally repeated his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election — a position she has since walked back, telling reporters earlier this month that she had gotten carried away in the moment when she said that.

Last summer, Trump said he would support another potential candidate — U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa. — if he ran. Weeks later, the Northeast Pennsylvania Republican declined to run and announced he’d seek a fourth term in Congress instead. Meuser quickly endorsed Garrity once she formally joined the race, and she continues to capture more GOP officials’ endorsements as Pennsylvania’s May 19 primary election inches closer.

Garrity is currently running unopposed as the Republican candidate for governor, after State Sen. Doug Mastriano announced he would not run again this year, after losing by nearly 15 percentage points to Shapiro in 2022. However, Garrity has yet to announce who she wants as her running mate for lieutenant governor, with largely far-right conservatives — including Mastriano — interested in the job.

Still, Trump’s endorsement of Garrity could draw needed eyes and checkbooks to her campaign, as her fundraising in the early months of the race has lagged far behind the $30 million war chest Shapiro has amassed over the last few years. Earlier this month, Garrity announced that her campaign had raised nearly $1.5 million from August through December.

Republicans are hopeful that Garrity can drive enough enthusiasm at the top of the state ticket to motivate GOP voters to come out to vote throughout Pennsylvania, boosting candidates up and down the ballot in a year where control of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives is on the line.

Meanwhile Democrats, hopeful to build on anti-Trump sentiment that drove their wins last year, quickly seized on Trump’s endorsement as an opportunity to tie Garrity to the president.

“Pennsylvanians deserve better than a Governor who is nothing more than a rubber stamp for Trump’s chaos and higher costs, and that’s why she will be soundly rejected this November,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party Chair Eugene DePasquale said in a statement.

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