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If elected in November, Stacy Garrity<\/a> would become Pennsylvania\u2019s first female governor in the state\u2019s 238-year history. <\/p>\n Even now, she is one of only two women in history to receive the Republican Party\u2019s nomination for the job. <\/p>\n The state has never had a woman as its governor; no woman has been elected as U.S. senator; and both times a woman ran for president, she lost the state. Over the last two centuries, Pennsylvania\u2019s political glass ceiling has proven stubbornly resistant to cracks<\/a>.<\/p>\n But on the campaign trail against Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro<\/a>, Garrity, 62, said she doesn\u2019t give that too much thought.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my least favorite thing to talk about,\u201d she said. \u201cI was the oldest of four daughters, and we were just told that we were expected to work hard.\u201d<\/p>\n Navigating gender dynamics in politics can prove to be a particularly fine balance. Republicans<\/a>, in particular, often emphasize that candidates should rise on their skills and talent, not personal identity. <\/p>\n Garrity emphasized her attention is on issues like the power grid, education, and reining in spending, though she recognizes the historic significance of a potential win. <\/p>\n \u201cRepublicans, for the most part, are based on merit, and that\u2019s how I was raised,\u201d said Garrity, who spent decades serving in the Army Reserve and as an executive in the manufacturing industry before becoming state treasurer. When she was reelected in 2024, she broke the record in Pennsylvania for the most number of votes cast in her favor<\/a> for a statewide office, a distinction formerly held by Shapiro.<\/p>\n In addition to taking on centuries of male-dominated leadership, Garrity will face other challenges in November. <\/p>\n She is a Republican who has aligned herself closely with President Donald Trump<\/a> \u2014 including campaigning at his Mar-A-Lago Club<\/a> in Florida \u2014 at a time when Trump has been experiencing historic dissatisfaction among voters<\/a> and the national political environment favors Democrats<\/a>.<\/p>\n And she is running against Shapiro, a Democratic incumbent with a rising national star who is popular even among independents<\/a>. He has $38 million banked<\/a> as of May, vastly outpacing Garrity\u2019s $2.8 million. Shapiro is also counting on a strong showing in the midterms to help Democrats win the majority in the U.S. House<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00bb READ MORE: How the Pennsylvania governor\u2019s race will help decide who controls the U.S. House<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cI think [voters] are excited to have a first female governor, but I don\u2019t think that is the reason anybody would vote for me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n In Pennsylvania and 16 other states<\/p>\n It is hard to be what you can\u2019t see. And for voters who have never experienced a woman at the top of the hierarchy, it is difficult to imagine what that could look like, experts said.<\/p>\n It has been 300 years since a woman led Pennsylvania \u2014 before it was a state.<\/p>\n Hannah Callowhill Penn led the colony of Pennsylvania<\/a>, governing first while her husband, William Penn, suffered several strokes, and then alongside a group of trustees after he died. Over 14 years, she settled boundary disputes, appointed and replaced government officials, and navigated relations with the monarchy in England.<\/p>\n Other Pennsylvania women made attempts to break gender barriers but came up short. Barbara Hafer ran as a Republican against Democratic incumbent Bob Casey<\/a> Sr. in the 1990 governor\u2019s race, but lost with just 32% of the vote.<\/p>\n Former U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz lost to Tom Wolf during the Democratic primary for governor in 2014, and Laura Ellsworth was defeated by Scott Wagner in the 2018 Republican gubernatorial primary. <\/p>\n \u201cIt could just be a coincidence, but also it\u2019s very hard to break political traditions, and one of those traditions in Pennsylvania, unfortunately, is male leadership,\u201d said Nichola Gutgold, a professor at Pennsylvania State University\u2019s Lehigh Valley campus, who has researched women in politics.<\/p>\n Pennsylvania, however, is not alone. There are 17 states that have never had a female senator, and 17 states have never had a female governor, according to the Pew Research Center<\/a>. That distinction spans geographic ranges and party control.<\/p>\n Still, Pennsylvania is one of just four states that has never had either, along with Idaho, Indiana, and Colorado. Among them, only Colorado went for Democrats Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris<\/a> for president.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have certain variables at play in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that make it more challenging for women to run for elected office,\u201d said Dana Brown, executive director of the Pennsylvania Center for Women and Politics.<\/p>\n The role of the parties on the state and county levels means they have a strong influence on recruiting candidates and pushing them up through the pipeline. Historically, recruiting tended to come from more masculine bases \u2014 such as fire stations or township supervisor positions.<\/p>\n Now, though, \u201cboth sides of the aisle recognize that women can win here in Pennsylvania, and so Republicans and Democrats have been purposely recruiting more women,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Women have made strides in other Pennsylvania elected offices.<\/p>\n In Harrisburg, State Rep. Joanna McClinton (D., Philadelphia) is the first woman<\/a> and second Black person to serve as speaker of the Pennsylvania House. Republican State Sen. Kim Ward of Westmoreland County is the first woman in Pennsylvania history to serve as Senate president pro tempore and Senate majority leader.<\/p>\n When former Democratic U.S. Rep. Susan Wild<\/a>, the first woman to represent the Lehigh Valley in Congress, was elected in 2018, \u201cit took a real concentrated effort from [political action committees] and from groups that really wanted to see a woman win to make that happen,\u201d Gutgold said.<\/p>\n In other cases, as in neighboring New Jersey or Virginia, women have ascended with a combination of fortunate timing, skill, experience, and deft campaigning. <\/p>\n When Gov. Mikie Sherrill<\/a> last year became the second woman elected to lead New Jersey<\/a>, Brown said, \u201cit was a change election for New Jersey, and it was a sign of pushing back against what the federal government is doing with ICE<\/a> and immigration and also with the economy.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though Sherrill, a Democrat, shares the same party as her predecessor, Phil Murphy<\/a>, New Jersey\u2019s vote for a woman represents change, Brown said. \u201cShe also worked really, really hard for it, as most women do,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Sometimes, female candidates succeed by pushing against expected norms for women by emphasizing military experience or work in male-dominated trades, Gutgold said. Garrity has emphasized her military and business experience<\/a> on the campaign trail, holding a Veterans for Garrity rally last week. <\/p>\n \u201cI think that, rhetorically speaking, it would be easier to elect a woman who appears to hold more conservative views, because of the way we, the electorate, still views women\u2019s role in society,\u201d Gutgold said.<\/p>\n Republican women have scored victories in the Deep South by upholding conservative values such as opposition to abortion and support of gun rights<\/a>. Kay Ivey holds the governor\u2019s mansion in Alabama, and Nikki Haley previously led South Carolina for two terms. In Tennessee, U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn has represented the state since 2018 and publicly repudiated gender-specific titles<\/a>, such as congresswoman vs. congressman.<\/p>\n Garrity, on the campaign trail, has also vowed to clean up<\/a> the \u201cboys will be boys\u201d culture in Harrisburg and has criticized Shapiro\u2019s handling of a sexual harassment case involving a longtime aide.<\/p>\n The aide, Mike Vereb, abruptly stepped down in 2023<\/a>, while the administration quietly agreed to pay $295,000 to settle claims<\/a> from an employee in the governor\u2019s office that Vereb had made repeated sexual advances toward her, and made lewd claims about her and other women. <\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need to settle for a governor who will sweep sexual harassment and abuse charges under the rug. We don\u2019t need to accept that our state government is a cesspool where intimidation is the norm and public employees fear retribution,\u201d Garrity said during a news conference this year.<\/p>\n Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro, rejected those accusations.<\/p>\n \u201cGovernor Shapiro has a track record of taking on powerful institutions, exposing sexual abuse, and putting predators behind bars \u2014 and he continues to fight to deliver real accountability and justice for survivors here in Pennsylvania,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Could Pa. women give Garrity a boost?<\/p>\n Nationally, women voters tend to lean more toward the Democratic Party, Pew Research Center data show<\/a>, so it\u2019s unlikely that the Republican Party will attract a huge turnover \u2014 even with a female candidate on the top of the ticket.<\/p>\n Sometimes, however, the gender divide can become even more entrenched. In 2024, for example<\/a>, when the candidates were broadly polling neck-and-neck, Harris saw a 17-point advantage with Pennsylvania women, while Trump led with men in the state by 11 points, according to a Philadelphia Inquirer\/New York Times\/Siena College poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n Garrity said she is putting together agendas that speak to various coalitions of voters, such as veterans, Latinos, and small-business owners.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ve done specifically females, but that might be a good idea,\u201d she said. A campaign spokesperson added that Garrity would be rolling out women-focused events in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Campaigns can target women by speaking directly to certain issues. Democrats have often focused their message on support for reproductive access<\/a> and abortion rights, especially since the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. <\/p>\n According to a Pew Research Center report in March<\/a>, 64% of women and 55% of men say abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But Garrity has been inconsistent on the issue. She said \u201cRoe was wrong from the beginning\u201d on the day the ruling came out and sold T-shirts on her campaign website that opposed abortion. But in an interview last September, Garrity said she would \u201crespect\u201d Pennsylvania\u2019s current abortion law<\/a> and would not support a state ban<\/a>.<\/p>\n Republicans, meanwhile, often promote public safety and have sought to make women\u2019s sports a wedge issue in recent elections by pushing restrictions on the participation of transgender athletes. <\/p>\n It is a tactic Garrity will use against Shapiro, who has called attempts to silo transgender athletes discriminatory<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of people think that he\u2019s moderate because he likes to be all things to all people, and they don\u2019t understand, he is really for boys competing against girls in sports,\u201d Garrity said. <\/p>\n There are other issues women candidates are often seen as more trusted on, such as education, healthcare, and children\u2019s needs, Gutgold said.<\/p>\n