Gov. Josh Shapiro’s huge fundraising lead over Republican challenger Stacy Garrity continues to be built in part by contributions from out of state, and has positioned the Democratic incumbent to spend millions trying to win control of the General Assembly for his party.

Shapiro’s campaign spent $31 million between June 9 and Sept. 14, a new disclosure shows, including more than $19 million on TV and digital advertising. After entering the summer with $36 million in the bank, he raised $13.3 million more, and carried almost $20 million into the final six weeks of campaigning.

Garrity continued to struggle in the fundraising game. She raised $1.8 million over the three-month period, during which she spent $1.6 million, and brought $1.4 million into the home stretch.

Much like during the previous months of the campaign, Shapiro collected about half his campaign contributions from out of state, while Garrity collected about 86% of her money from within Pennsylvania.

The state of play: Shapiro holds a cash advantage of about 20-to-1 ahead of the critical weeks when voters will receive mail-in ballots and eventually head to the polls Nov. 3.

Shapiro’s second-largest expense reflected a candidate with money to spare: He gave $5.6 million to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to aid their statewide effort to flip seats in both the state and federal legislatures. The state party is eyeing a handful of state Senate targets in the eastern part of the state that could unlock a trifecta, or control of the governorship alongside both legislative chambers, a feat not achieved by Democrats in recent memory. The U.S. House could hinge on four competitive Eastern Pennsylvania districts.

The new disclosures bring the total raised by the two major governor candidates to $60 million since the start of 2025, with Shapiro accounting for 91%.

Garrity’s campaign spent about $440,000 on advertising during this three-month period, including just $204,000 on TV ads. Shapiro spent about 30 times that — $13.5 million — on TV ads, plus another $5 million on digital advertising.

Garrity’s top donor over the summer was a political action committee called PA Future Fund, which has a track record of giving to Republicans in the state. The PAC gave her campaign $230,000, which makes it the largest single donor to the campaign to date.

Shapiro’s largest benefactor during these months was the Democratic Governor’s Association, which gave $1.25 million to his campaign. That’s a Washington, D.C.-based group that gave the Shapiro campaign more than $2 million ahead of his 2022 run and has collected seven-figure donations from a constellation of Democratic PACs, as well as billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

Seven labor unions were also among the governor’s top 20 donors during the summer period, highlighted by a $500,000 contribution from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).

Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at charlie@publicsource.org.

This story was fact-checked by Rich Lord.

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Have you seen a Garrity ad? Shapiro leads 43-to-1 in broadcast, digital buys.

by Charlie Wolfson, Pittsburgh's Public Source
September 24, 2026

<h1>Have you seen a Garrity ad? Shapiro leads 43-to-1 in broadcast, digital buys.</h1> <p class="byline">by Charlie Wolfson, Pittsburgh's Public Source <br />September 24, 2026</p> <p>Gov. Josh Shapiro’s huge fundraising lead over Republican challenger Stacy Garrity continues to be built in part by contributions from out of state, and has positioned the Democratic incumbent to spend millions trying to win control of the General Assembly for his party.</p> <p>Shapiro’s campaign spent $31 million between June 9 and Sept. 14, a new disclosure shows, including more than $19 million on TV and digital advertising. After <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/shapiro-garrity-election-campaign-finance/">entering the summer with $36 million</a> in the bank, he raised $13.3 million more, and carried almost $20 million into the final six weeks of campaigning.</p> <p>Garrity continued to struggle in the fundraising game. She raised $1.8 million over the three-month period, during which she spent $1.6 million, and brought $1.4 million into the home stretch.</p> <div class="flourish-embed flourish-pictogram" data-src="visualisation/30345282"><img src="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/30345282/thumbnail" width="100%" alt="pictogram visualization" /></div> <p>Much like during the <a href="https://www.publicsource.org/shapiro-garrity-election-campaign-finance/">previous months of the campaign</a>, Shapiro collected about half his campaign contributions from out of state, while Garrity collected about 86% of her money from within Pennsylvania.</p> <p>The state of play: Shapiro holds a cash advantage of about 20-to-1 ahead of the critical weeks when voters will receive mail-in ballots and eventually head to the polls Nov. 3.</p> <p>Shapiro’s second-largest expense reflected a candidate with money to spare: He gave $5.6 million to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party to aid their statewide effort to flip seats in both the state and federal legislatures. The state party is eyeing a handful of state Senate targets in the eastern part of the state that could unlock a trifecta, or control of the governorship alongside both legislative chambers, a feat not achieved by Democrats in recent memory. The U.S. House could hinge on <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/2026-pennsylvania-midterm-elections-preview/">four competitive Eastern Pennsylvania districts</a>.</p> <p>The new disclosures bring the total raised by the two major governor candidates to $60 million since the start of 2025, with Shapiro accounting for 91%.</p> <p>Garrity’s campaign spent about $440,000 on advertising during this three-month period, including just $204,000 on TV ads. Shapiro spent about 30 times that — $13.5 million — on TV ads, plus another $5 million on digital advertising.</p> <div class="flourish-embed flourish-pictogram" data-src="visualisation/30345339"><img src="https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/30345339/thumbnail" width="100%" alt="pictogram visualization" /></div> <p>Garrity’s top donor over the summer was a political action committee called PA Future Fund, which has a track record of giving to Republicans in the state. The PAC gave her campaign $230,000, which makes it the largest single donor to the campaign to date.</p> <p>Shapiro’s largest benefactor during these months was the Democratic Governor’s Association, which gave $1.25 million to his campaign. That’s a Washington, D.C.-based group that gave the Shapiro campaign more than $2 million ahead of his 2022 run and has collected seven-figure donations from a constellation of Democratic PACs, as well as billionaire Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.</p> <p>Seven labor unions were also among the governor’s top 20 donors during the summer period, highlighted by a $500,000 contribution from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME).</p> <p><em>Charlie Wolfson is the local government reporter for Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at</em> <a href="mailto:charlie@publicsource.org"><em>charlie@publicsource.org</em></a><em>.</em></p> <p><em>This story was fact-checked by Rich Lord.</em></p> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/shapiro-garrity-election-tv-ad-spending/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org&quot;&gt;Pittsburgh&#039;s Public Source&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.publicsource.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/cropped-ps_circle_favicon_blue.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;</p> &lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://www.publicsource.org/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=1337623&amp;amp;ga4=G-CCLXQK5C14&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://www.publicsource.org/shapiro-garrity-election-tv-ad-spending/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/publicsource.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;

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