by Blue Views staff
Pennsylvania voters will choose between Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity on November 3. Both candidates talk about affordability, jobs, education, and the state’s future. But beneath the campaign language are substantial differences about the role of government, the protections Pennsylvanians should expect, and the direction the commonwealth should take.
Shapiro is asking voters to judge a four-year record. Garrity is offering a change of direction. A closer look at their positions shows what is at stake.
Abortion rights: a clear difference in records
Shapiro has consistently defended access to abortion. He has promised to veto new restrictions, supported access to abortion medication, and declined to defend a state restriction on Medicaid coverage of abortion care.
Garrity has a long anti-abortion record. She celebrated the reversal of Roe v. Wade and previously sold campaign merchandise calling for Planned Parenthood to be defunded. She has tried to chang her tune during this campaign, but her record is clear.
If keeping politicians out of a decision that belongs to women and their partners is important to you; if allowing doctors to provide medical advice and not lawyers, then the choice is clear: Shapiro has a history of exactly this. Garrity does not.
Public education: investment or a different set of priorities?
Pennsylvania’s courts found the state’s public-school funding system unconstitutionally inequitable. Shapiro has increased education funding and emphasizes free school breakfast, career and technical education, and student mental-health support. He argues that the state needs to give schools the resources to educate children regardless of their ZIP code.
Garrity favors school-choice programs that would take the exact opposite path. School vouchers let families of means abandon public schools but still leave the PA taxpayer holding the bill.
If you want a solid education to be available to all students and don’t think taxpayers should pay for students to attend private schools, vote Shapiro.
Health care: who absorbs federal cuts?
Federal Medicaid changes are expected to put pressure on the health coverage of vulnerable Pennsylvanians and on providers serving them. In their October debate, Garrity defended the Trump-backed changes as common sense, while Shapiro warned about the harm they would cause.
Neither candidate can reverse federal law alone. But if you want a governor to manage the fallout with compassion, and work to protect the services the most vulnerable among us depend on, then vote Shapiro.
Energy and data centers: growth with conditions
Pennsylvania’s energy resources are an economic advantage, but rising electric bills and the rapid growth of data centers raise difficult questions. Shapiro has pursued an energy strategy including natural gas, nuclear power, and renewables, while criticizing electricity market practices that he argues hurt consumers.
He has also strengthened requirements for new data-center proposals, including expectations that developers pay for needed infrastructure rather than shift those costs to households, consult communities, and meet environmental safeguards.
Garrity emphasizes expanding Pennsylvania’s natural gas economy but not renewables like solar and wind. While she has recently called for a pause on new data-center development, she has a history of favoring the growth of data centers in Pennsylvania.
If you want a governor who will protect our natural resources, and favors strong protections to protect us from data centers, vote Shapiro.
Voting and the rules of democracy
Election security matters. So does making voting accessible to eligible citizens. Pennsylvania elections are secure; the Commonwealth already uses paper-backed voting systems, pre-election testing, and post-election audits.
Shapiro has defended Pennsylvania’s mail-voting system and expanded automatic voter registration. Garrity favors stricter identification that would make it harder or impossible for citizens to vote as a “solution” to a problem (non-citizen voting) that doesn’t exist – countless studies have proven that our elections are secure and that non-citizen voting is exceedingly rare.
If voting rights matter, if you agree that a free and fair elction is a cornerstone of our democracy, then there really is only one choice. Vote Shapiro.
Wages, taxes, and affordability
Shapiro continues to advocate raising Pennsylvania’s minimum wage from $7.25 to $15 an hour, a proposal that has faced Republican resistance in the legislature. His broader approach includes targeted relief, public investment, and efforts to expand housing and job opportunities.
Garrity emphasizes reducing taxes, regulation, and government costs. Lower taxes can help households and businesses, but the central question is what spending would be reduced and whether those reductions would offset the loss of services for families who need them.
At the October debate, Garrity criticized Pennsylvania’s direction but offered few specific offsets for the spending and revenue questions she raised. Voters should expect detailed answers from anyone seeking responsibility for the state’s budget.
If you want a governor with a track record of sound fiscal management and not one in favor of the failure called “trickle-down economics” then vote Shapiro.
What the election really decides
Shapiro has not achieved everything he promised. Sometimes this is because the world had changed and his views have evolved with the times. Sometimes it is because the Republicans in the state Senate have successfully blocked progress.
But his record also offers a concrete set of priorities: investments in public education, protection of reproductive rights, support for broader voting access, and efforts to shield working families from rising costs.
Garrity offers an approach built around trickle-down economics, expanded fossil-fuel development, gutting public schools, and reduced access to voting.
On November 3, you have a say in the future of our Commonwealth – vote Shapiro to keep Pennsylvania moving forward into a bright future for all of us.
Check registration and voting options at pa.gov/agencies/vote.
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