Biography & Campaign Analysis
Background
Stacy L. Garrity, a native of Athens, Pennsylvania, was born on May 17, 1964, and went to Sayre Area High School before earning a finance and economics degree at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania and, later, a Cornell University Business Management Institute certificate.
From 1986 to 2016 she was a military police officer in the Army Reserve, with deployments for the Gulf War in 1991 and the Iraq War in 2003 to 2004 and 2008 to 2009.
Posted to Camp Bucca in Iraq, she handled detainee processing, family visits and Red Cross liaison, work for which she became known as "The Angel of the Desert." Her decorations include the Legion of Merit and two Bronze Stars, and she left the service as a colonel.
In civilian life she worked from 1987 to 2021 at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp., a Pennsylvania tungsten producer, where her final post was vice president handling government affairs.
Career
In 2019, after Tom Marino's resignation opened Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, Garrity sought the Republican nomination for the special election and lost it to state representative Fred Keller.
In 2020 she ran for state treasurer, winning the Republican nomination unopposed and unseating Democratic incumbent Joe Torsella in November, the first defeat of an incumbent Democrat in a Pennsylvania statewide race by a Republican since 1994. She took office in 2021 as the state's 79th treasurer.
In 2024 she won a second term against Democrat Erin McClelland, taking 51.9% of the vote and receiving more than 3.5 million votes.
2026 race
Garrity launched her campaign for governor in August 2025 and received an endorsement from President Donald Trump. She won the Republican primary on May 19, 2026, running unopposed. In the November 3 general election she faces Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, who is seeking a second term. A victory would make her the first woman to serve as governor of Pennsylvania.