Republican incumbent Stacy Garrity wins Pennsylvania treasurer race, beating Erin McClelland

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HARRISBURG — Republican Stacy Garrity has won a second term to be Pennsylvania’s state treasurer, defeating Democrat Erin McClelland.

The Associated Press called the race for Garrity at 3:17 a.m. on Wednesday. Unofficial results show Garrity with 52.1% of the vote to 45.6%. Multiple third-party candidates also ran for the position: the Constitution Party’s Troy Bowman, Chris Foster of the Forward Party, and Libertarian Nick Ciesielski.

One of three powerful statewide row officers, the treasurer oversees Pennsylvania’s coffers, pays the state’s bills, and invests its savings. The treasurer also sits on the board of two major public sector savings funds.

The seat has been a springboard for higher office. Democrat Bob Casey served as state treasurer before running successfully for U.S. Senate.

Garrity vastly outraised her Democratic opponent, receiving nearly $1.7 million in donations through Oct. 21 of this year. In contrast, McClelland raised about $116,000 in the same period. She also loaned herself $100,000 last year.

Garrity was also endorsed by her party and supported financially by its major players, including a political action committee funded in large part by Pennsylvania billionaire Jeff Yass.

McClelland, on the other hand, won her primary in an upset against the party-endorsed candidate, state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro (D., Erie). While the Democratic Party endorsed her in the general election, its chair criticized McClelland after she failed to endorse Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro to be Kamala Harris’ running mate. She was the only Democratic row office candidate who did not receive financial support from Shapiro’s well-funded PAC.

Garrity was first elected to the office in 2020, ousting Democratic incumbent Joe Torsella.

During her first term, she focused on returning unclaimed property to Pennsylvanians, and reducing fees and eliminating minimum deposit requirements for state-managed savings plans.

She also divested the state’s investments from Russian, Belarusian, and Chinese securities, and increased the state’s investments in bonds backed by the Israeli government following the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

In a second term, she promised to focus on increasing transparency and reducing wasteful state spending.

Garrity is a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump. She spoke at a 2021 rally that sought to cast doubt on the results of the 2020 election, a day before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.

Following the insurrection, she denounced the attack on social media.

She’s also been outspoken about other controversial issues that don’t fall strictly under the treasurer’s purview. For example, she publicly opposed Pennsylvania’s entry into the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — an interstate agreement to cap carbon emissions — and celebrated the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

McClelland’s career includes a decade and a half in substance abuse and mental health counseling, project managing, and program directing. She ran on a platform of strengthening the state treasurer’s contract oversight authority and boosting the Treasury’s cybersecurity by having it collect cyberattack data from local municipalities.

McClelland also criticized Garrity’s support for a Democrat-sponsored bill that would create Keystone Saves, a statewide retirement plan option for employers who otherwise can’t afford to offer one.

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