{"id":271859,"date":"2026-08-25T11:00:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/271859\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:00:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T11:00:07","slug":"pa-election-2026-governor-voter-guide-shapiro-vs-garrity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/271859\/","title":{"rendered":"PA election 2026: Governor voter guide: Shapiro vs. Garrity"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the Nov. 3 general election<\/a>, Pennsylvania voters will decide who will serve as governor and lieutenant governor for the next four years.\n<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what voters should know about the 2026 gubernatorial race:\n<\/p>\n

Who are the candidates?<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and running mate Lt. Gov. Austin Davis are running for a second term. The incumbent duo faces Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity and her running mate Jason Richey, along with Libertarian Ken Krawchuk and his running mate John Thomas. Green Party nominee Tony Dastra was also running but failed to make the ballot for November<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Minor-party candidates have historically struggled to break through in Pennsylvania governor races. When Krawchuk last ran in 2018, he received 0.98% of the vote; the Green Party nominee that year received 0.55%, according to official state returns<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

What does the governor do?<\/p>\n

The governor proposes the state budget and negotiates spending and policy priorities with lawmakers while overseeing agencies responsible for education, health care, environmental regulation, prisons and state police.\n<\/p>\n

The governor can also sign or veto legislation, issue executive orders, declare emergencies, make appointments and grant pardons or commute sentences when recommended by the Board of Pardons.\n<\/p>\n

The statewide elected office is limited to two consecutive four-year terms.\n<\/p>\n

By definition, the lieutenant governor\u2019s role is secondary to that of the governor, but the choice of running mate has consequences. The lieutenant governor takes over if the governor cannot finish the term \u2014 including if the governor is elected president of the United States. The lieutenant governor also presides over sessions of the Pennsylvania State Senate and serves as the deciding vote when the Senate is tied, except on final bill passages.\n<\/p>\n

What\u2019s at stake in the governor\u2019s race<\/p>\n

The Pennsylvania legislature is narrowly divided. Democrats hold 103 seats in the state House to Republicans\u2019 100, while Republicans hold a 27-23 state Senate majority. The split has forced Shapiro to negotiate with GOP senators and has stalled priorities from both parties.\n<\/p>\n

The election could determine whether the next governor continues to face divided government or works with a legislature controlled by the same party, giving the executive significant power to implement their agenda.\n<\/p>\n

The winner will also confront rising energy and housing costs, pressure to finish the court-ordered overhaul of public school funding, growing electricity demand from data centers, recurring fights over transit funding and debates over abortion, marijuana and election rules.\n<\/p>\n

Where do Shapiro and Garrity split on the issues?<\/p>\n

The candidates\u2019 sharpest differences are over abortion<\/a>, education, energy and elections. Shapiro supports abortion rights<\/a> and has used his office to protect access<\/a>, while Garrity has a long anti-abortion record, though she now says she would not sign a ban.\n<\/p>\n

Shapiro has directed billions of additional dollars toward public schools and backed an adequacy formula aimed at underfunded districts<\/a>. Garrity favors a broader school-choice approach<\/a> that would steer more support toward charter, cyber charter and private-school alternatives. Shapiro has also supported a school voucher program<\/a> in the past, but Democrats pushed back<\/a> on his efforts.\n<\/p>\n

Both say Pennsylvania needs more electricity generation and lower utility bills<\/a>. Shapiro\u2019s plan mixes natural gas, nuclear power and renewables and would tighten some environmental standards; Garrity would put greater emphasis on natural gas production and tax cuts<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

On elections, Shapiro has defended mail voting and expanded automatic voter registration<\/a>. Garrity supports stricter voter-identification and ballot-handling rules<\/a> and has criticized how the 2020 election was administered.\n<\/p>\n

What will it take to win the governor\u2019s race?<\/p>\n

Shapiro begins the fall campaign with the advantages of incumbency, broad name recognition and a strong approval rating. Fifty-six percent of Pennsylvania voters approve of Shapiro\u2019s performance, including 23% of Republicans, a poll from Quinnipiac University showed<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Garrity\u2019s favorability rating was 22%, while 58% of voters said they had not heard enough about her.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cStill one of the country\u2019s most popular governors, Josh Shapiro benefits by his opponent Stacy Garrity\u2019s greatest obstacle: people don\u2019t know much about her,\u201d Quinnipiac polling analyst Tim Malloy<\/a> said in a written statement.\n<\/p>\n

Pennsylvania voters have also elected Democrats in the last three governor races<\/a> \u2014 the last Republican to win was Tom Corbett in 2010. But the commonwealth remains closely divided: President Donald Trump carried it in 2016 and 2024, while Joe Biden won it in 2020<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Both campaigns will likely need to turn out their respective support \u2014 Shapiro in metro areas such as Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and Garrity in the state\u2019s rural counties \u2014 while competing for swing voters in the populous suburbs around Philadelphia and in the Lehigh Valley<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

Garrity\u2019s central challenge is introducing herself to voters and motivating Republicans who may not be as energized about this year\u2019s election<\/a>. Shapiro will likely have to keep the cross-party support \u2014 as reflected in his job-approval numbers \u2014 while further energizing his Democratic base.\n<\/p>\n

The legislative races add another layer. Democrats are trying to hold their narrow House majority and flip three Senate seats<\/a> to gain full control of Harrisburg, while Republicans are seeking to defend the Senate and win back the House. The governor\u2019s race could shape turnout in those contests, and the legislature elected alongside the governor will determine how much of either candidate\u2019s agenda can become law.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the Nov. 3 general election, Pennsylvania voters will decide who will serve as governor and lieutenant governor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[25694,451,28,30,29,8060],"class_list":["post-271859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pennsylvania","tag-elections-2026","tag-governor-josh-shapiro","tag-pennsylvania","tag-pennsylvania-headlines","tag-pennsylvania-news","tag-stacy-garrity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}