Pa. Treasurer Stacy Garrity breaks Josh Shapiro’s record for most votes for a statewide office

Republican State Treasurer Stacy Garrity’s reelection last week appears to have garnered the largest vote total ever recorded by a candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania.

In defeating Democratic challenger Erin McClelland, Garrity received 3,517,327 votes (52.2%) to McClelland’s 3,079,674 (45.5%), according to unofficial state results.

Garrity’s total exceeded the previous record for state office held by Gov. Josh Shapiro in his 2020 race for attorney general, said Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College, who reviewed the state data.

“She definitely outran Shapiro,” Yost said of Garrity.

Shapiro in 2020 amassed 3,461,472 votes to Republican challenger Heather Heidelbaugh’s 3,153,831.

Both 2020 and 2024 were presidential years, which boosts overall turnout.

As of Tuesday, Garrity’s vote total trailed that of President-elect Donald Trump by just 18. Trump appears to have won more votes than any Republican candidate in Pennsylvania history, an accomplishment Garrity nearly shared.

In 2020, Shapiro outpaced President Joe Biden’s 3,458,229 votes by around 3,200.

“I was delighted when I learned about the vote record,” Garrity said in a brief interview Tuesday afternoon. “It’s super exciting and I feel very honored.”

It’s a vote total that will likely generate interest in Garrity as a candidate for higher office ahead of 2026, when Shapiro stands for reelection, and 2028, when Democratic Sen. John Fetterman will defend his seat for the first time.

Garrity declined to say whether she will use the treasurer’s office as a springboard to higher office, as Democratic Sen. Bob Casey did after one term. “Serving in the U.S. Army Reserve was the honor of my lifetime, but being treasurer is a close second,” she said. “And that’s all I’m focusing on now.”

Garrity, 60, was first elected in 2020 after defeating Democratic incumbent Joe Torsella in an upset. She became the first Republican in 16 years to hold the office.

On her website, Garrity describes herself as the “Angel of the Desert,” a nickname she got while serving in Iraq in the U.S. Army Reserve in 2004, according to National Public Radio. There, she oversaw a camp of Iraqi war prisoners.

One of the main talking points of her campaign was her assertion that she set a new one-year record in returning nearly $274 million in unclaimed property to more than 174,000 Pennsylvania citizens in the fiscal year ending June 2023.

Unendorsed by the state Democratic establishment in the primaries, McClelland ran afoul of Pennsylvania Democratic leaders in her own party, after endorsing North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper over Shapiro to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate. In her comments, McClelland referenced a sexual harassment scandal involving a former aide of Shapiro’s.

On Tuesday, Garrity said that “not having Democratic support certainly didn’t help” McClelland.

McClelland campaign chair Chuck Pascal pushed back on the idea that a dearth of party support hurt the candidate.

Pascal said that Garrity was helped by a Trump-led red wave and by the ability of Republicans who “seemed to be able to get more of their newish voters to vote down-ballot.”