President Donald Trump endorsed Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity for governor Tuesday evening, awarding her the coveted nod from the leader of the Republican Party as she tries to unseat the popular Democratic incumbent Gov.Josh Shapiro in November.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump declared Garrity “WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN” and stated that as governor, she would work to grow the economy, strengthen the military, keep borders secure, and safeguard elections, among other priorities.
“Stacy is a true America First Patriot, who has been with me from the beginning,” Trump wrote.
Garrity, the state’s second-term treasurer,has led the low-profile office without controversy and boasts that her staff has blocked nearly $2 billion in improper payments. The retired U.S. Army colonel in 2024 broke the record for highest number of votes received in a state-level race in Pennsylvania, and she quickly earned the support of the state party establishment last year.
In a statement Tuesday, Garrity said she was honored to receive Trump’s endorsement, adding that the president has “been a voice for hardworking Americans who have been left behind.”
“Josh Shapiro is President Trump’s number one adversary, and I am looking forward to working with President Trump and his team to defeat Josh Shapiro this November,” Garrity said.
At right is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro listening to Stacy Garrity, 78th State Treasurer, Forum Auditorium, Harrisburg, Pa., Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
Garrity is a longtime Trump supporter from rural Bradford County, who in 2022 at a Trump rally repeated his false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election — a position she has since walked back, telling reporters earlier this month that she had gotten carried away in the moment when she said that.
Last summer, Trump said he would support another potential candidate — U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.) — if he ran.Weeks later, the Northeast Pennsylvania Republican declined to run andannounced he would seek a fourth term in Congress instead. Meuser quickly endorsed Garrity once she formally joined the race, and she continues to capture more GOP officials’ endorsements as Pennsylvania’s May 19 primary election inches closer.
Garrity is currently running unopposed as the Republican candidate for governor, after State Sen. Doug Mastriano announced he would not run again this year after losing by nearly 15 percentage points to Shapiro in 2022. However, Garrity has yet to announce who she wants as her running mate for lieutenant governor, with largely far-right conservatives — including Mastriano — interested in the job.
Still,Trump’s endorsement of Garrity could draw needed eyes and checkbooks to her campaign, as her fundraising in the early months of the race has lagged far behind the $30 million war chest Shapiro has amassed over the last few years. Earlier this month, Garrity announced that her campaign had raised nearly $1.5 million from August through December.
Republicans are hopeful that Garrity can drive enough enthusiasm at the top of the state ticket to motivate GOP voters to come out to vote throughout Pennsylvania, boosting candidates up and down the ballot in a year where control of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly and the U.S. House of Representatives is on the line.
“Pennsylvanians deserve better than a Governor who is nothing more than a rubber stamp for Trump’s chaos and higher costs, and that’s why she will be soundly rejected this November,” Pennsylvania Democratic Party chair Eugene DePasquale said in a statement.
All seven Democratic members of the U.S. House representing Pennsylvania cosigned a letter to Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick on Tuesday calling on them to vote against funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and the Border Patrol.
The letter, which was first obtained by The Inquirer, comes a day after Fetterman, their Democratic colleague, said he would not vote against funding the agency, which could trigger a partial government shutdown.
“We urge you to stand with us in opposing any DHS funding bill that does not include critical reforms,” the lawmakers said in the letter, delivered Tuesday. “We look forward to working together to advance legislation that both keeps our nation secure and upholds our fundamental values.”
The effort was led by U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, whose Western Pennsylvania district includes parts of Allegheny County. Deluzio has been floated in Democratic circles as a potential primary challenger to Fetterman in 2028.
Deluzio was joined by Democratic U.S. Reps. Brendan Boyle and Dwight Evans, who represent Philadelphia, as well as U.S. Reps. Madeleine Dean, Mary Gay Scanlon, and Chrissy Houlahan, whose districts include the Philadelphia suburbs. U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, a progressive Democrat whose district includes Pittsburgh, also signed the letter.
Boyle, another potential contender for Fetterman’s seat and the dean of the delegation, said in a statement that “ICE is currently operating like a lawless, out-of-control agency.”
“We cannot send it another blank check,” he added.
Anti-ICE activists demonstrate outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office, Jan. 27, 2026, calling for the senator to vote against DHS funding.
The House Democrats urged the senators to vote against any bill that funds the department “without first securing meaningful, enforceable reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and related DHS agency activity.”
Fetterman spoke out against ICE’s operation in Minneapolis and called for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s firing on Tuesday but said he “will never vote to shut our government down, especially our Defense Department.” He said that allowing a partial shutdown would not defund ICE, since the agency was granted $178 billion in funding from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he did not support.
“I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE,” Fetterman said Monday. “I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change.”
He said he wants “a conversation” about the DHS appropriations bill and supports taking it out of the spending package, but said “it is unlikely that will happen.”
McCormick, a Republican, affirmed his support for Border Patrol and ICE on Sunday while also calling for “a full investigation into the tragedy in Minneapolis.”
Only a handful of House Democrats — none of whom represent Pennsylvania — joined Republicans last week in passing a bill to fund DHS. It was sent to the Senate as a package with other appropriations bills.
“We voted against this bill last week and ask that you do the same,” the lawmakers say in the letter. “Funding without adequate reform risks endorsing current approaches that undermine public safety and due process, erode American liberties, and weaken public trust.”
After a second U.S. citizen was fatally shot by ICE in Minneapolis over the weekend, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D., N.Y.) said Democrats would not vote for the forthcoming appropriations legislation if funding for DHS is part of it.
Democrats have pushed for provisions in the spending bill to increase training for ICE agents, to require warrants for immigration arrests, to require agents to identify themselves, and for Border Patrol to stay on the border instead of helping ICE elsewhere.
Upward of 150 protesters gathered in front of Fetterman’s Philadelphia office in the cold on Tuesday to urge him to vote against the funding. One protester held a sign saying “listen to your wife,” referencing Gisele Fetterman, who was undocumented as a child before becoming a citizen and posted on X for the first time in nearly a year on Sunday to speak against ICE.
“Sen. Fetterman, we’re here to remind you: You work for us in Philadelphia. We don’t want ICE in Pennsylvania,” Tiffany Chang, an Asian and Pacific Islander Political Alliance activist, said into a microphone.
“We want ICE out of the government spending bill,” Chang added. “So today, we need everyone listening to tell Sen. Fetterman: ‘Vote no on funding an agency that kills with impunity.’”
After the protest, participants said they did not feel that Fetterman was listening to his constituents.
“I thought a show of people in front of his building might actually get some attention,” said Stefanie Nicolosi, 39, a Phoenixville resident and member of Indivisible Chester County.
Saying the Trump administration is using the federal government for “pure evil” in its immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Gov. Josh Shapiro revealed on late-night television Monday that he’s preparing Pennsylvania to respond should the state face such an incursion.
Shapiro’s wide-ranging remarks on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert — which included Shapiro deriding Vice President JD Vance as a “sycophant” and a “suck-up” — sounded at times like a speech before a studio audience that applauded him vigorously. Making the rounds to promote his new book, Where We Keep the Light: Stories from a Life of Service, Shapiro also appeared on CBS Sunday Morning, Good Morning America on Monday, and The View on Tuesday.
On Colbert, the governor sharply criticized the Trump administration’s actions in Minneapolis, where he said “untrained” agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have been creating “chaos” by fatally shooting two American citizens.
“I think Americans are outraged by what they see,” Shapiro said, adding: “The mission in Minnesota must be terminated immediately.”
When Colbert said there are “rumors” that federal troops will be sent to Philadelphia “to foment fear,” Shapiro nodded. On The View, he said troops could show up in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, or Lancaster.
“We have spent hours and hours and hours doing tabletop exercises to prepare for it,” Shapiro said, without being specific. The governor did not elaborate.
He added that “it’s a sad day in America that a governor of a commonwealth needs to prepare for a federal onslaught where they would send troops in to undermine the freedoms and the constitutional rights of our citizens. This is un-American.”
“But I want the good people of Pennsylvania to know — I want the American people to know — that we will do everything in our power to protect them from the federal overreach.”
Asked for comment, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson, said Tuesday: “It’s pure evil when Democrat leaders provide sanctuary to dangerous criminal illegal aliens who assault, murder, and rape innocent American citizens. President Trump is keeping his promise to the American people to deport criminal illegal aliens.”
Referencing ICE agents wearing masks, Shapiro said that members of the Pennsylvania State Police “have strict rules on when they can wear a mask. You want to be identified as folks who are keeping people safe.”
He added, “Of all the tools that we give our law enforcement in Pennsylvania, the most important tool you need to have is trust with the community that you police.”
When the conversation turned to Vance’s statement that the ICE officer who shot andkilled Minneapolis resident Renee Macklin Good on Jan. 7 has “absolute immunity,” Shapiro retorted that it was untrue.
He added that Vance is “such a sycophant, such a suck-up. He embarrasses himself daily as he seeks the affirmation of Donald Trump.”
ICE agents “are not above the law,” Shapiro added moments later. “I don’t care what B.S. Vance [says.]”
The governor’s reelection bid this year, as well as rumors that he may be a presidential candidate in 2028, did not come up. Instead, Colbert touted Shapiro’s book.
Shapiro said that the courts, Congress, and public opinion need to be marshaled to prevent the Trump administration from sending more troops to U.S. cities.
“All of you have powerful voices,” Shapiro told the audience. He added: “The story of America is ordinary Americans rising up, demanding more, seeking justice.”
Sen. John Fetterman on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump “to immediately fire” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after federal agents killed two citizens in Minneapolis this month during an immigration enforcement operation.
“Americans have died,” Fetterman (D., Pa.) said in a statement. “She is betraying DHS’s core mission and trashing your border security legacy.”
The senator’s call for Noem’s firing comes after federal agents killed two Americans during the Minneapolis operation. On Saturday, a Border Patrol agent shot and killed Alex Pretti, an intensive care nurse at a VA hospital. An ICE agent shot and killed Renee Nicole Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother, on Jan. 7.
Fetterman referenced Noem’s predecessor, Alejandro Mayorkas, who served under former President Joe Biden and faced impeachment by the Republican-led House in 2024 amid a backlash over increased border crossings under Biden.
Sen. Andy Kim (D., N.J.), who also voted for Noem, joined the growing chorus of Democrats calling for Noem to step down on Tuesday. The South Jersey lawmaker has previously called the vote a mistake.
Fetterman’s plea to fire Noem comes a day after he called for the withdrawal of federal agents from Minneapolis. And it comes as the U.S. Senate is poised to vote this week on funding for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees both ICE and the Border Patrol.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Democrats would vote against it, which could trigger a partial federal government shutdown.
About 150 protesters gathered outside Fetterman’s office in Philadelphia in the snow on Tuesday to urge him to join the effort, but the senator said on Monday that he will never vote to shut down the government. He also argued that doing so would not pull the $178 billion dedicated to DHS through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which he did not support.
“I would like him to listen and actually represent us, because that’s his job,” said James Pierson, 42, an Exton resident attending the demonstration.
Fetterman suggested pulling the DHS bill from the package of bills under consideration by the Senate this week rather than another shutdown vote.
“I reject the calls to defund or abolish ICE,” he said. “I strongly disagree with many strategies and practices ICE deployed in Minneapolis, and believe that must change.”
On a below-freezing day in January, Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton delivered food to a West Philly home just minutes from her district office and listened as Sheila Alexander discussed the patchwork of care she has created for herself.
Alexander, 67, who struggles to get around on her own, explained that she depends on family often but uses a Medicaid-funded home health aide who helps her in the evening — especially when she needs to get up the steep stairs in her home.
McClinton is advocating for the aides who care for Alexander — and the rest of the roughly 270,000 Pennsylvania workers who make up the home care industry — to earn a higher wage.
Pennsylvania’s home healthcare workers are among the lowest-paid in the region at an average $16.50 per hour, resulting in what the Pennsylvania Homecare Association has called a crisis point for home care, as more and more workers leave the field and seniors struggle to find help. And it’s a crisis that may only deepen in future years, as one in three Pennsylvanians are projected to be 60 or older by 2030.
It’s an issue that McClinton, a Philadelphia Democrat who became House speaker in 2023 when her party took a one-seat majority, has had to contend with in her own life.
McClinton’s 78-year-old mother lost one of her favorite aides because of low pay, she said. The aide had cared for McClinton’s mother for a year, until the aide’s daughter got a job at McDonald’s that paid $3 more an hour. At that point, McClinton said, her mother’s aide realized just how low her pay was.
House Speaker Joanna McClinton (center) with her staff member Nicole Reigelman (left) and home care worker Kate McNaughton (right) wait to meet with home care recipient Ronda Gay on Jan. 20 in her West Philadelphia home. McNaughton was bringing a basket of milk, eggs, canned foods, and other necessities.
McClinton said she helps her mother when she can, but she only has so many hours in the day and needs assistance when she’s at the Capitol.
“Many of my colleagues are just like myself, supporting parents who are aging and trying to make sure that they have all the necessities so that when I’m in Harrisburg I’m not thinking, ‘Oh, my God, how’s my mom going to eat or how’s she going to have a bath,’” McClinton said. “It’s because of home health aides and the folks assigned to her that she’s able to thrive. But she’s not unique.”
Until recently, McClinton had taken a more hands-off approach compared with some previous House speakers who would use their position as the top official to push through their personal agendas. Now, she is taking a more active role in pushing for the issues she cares about most, with special attention to the home care wage crisis.
Home care workers are often paid through Medicaid, which provides health services to low-income and disabled Americans and is administered at the state level. Pennsylvania has not increased how much it reimburses home care agencies, resulting in all of the surrounding states paying higher wages to home care workers, including GOP-controlled West Virginia and Ohio.
Describing her leadership approach with a slim majority as “pragmatic,” McClinton says her goal is to find common ground to raise the wages for home healthcare workersbetween Republicans and Democrats, on an issue that impacts residents across all corners of the state.
“We just have to really coalesce and build a movement so that we see things get better and that there’s more care,” she said. “Because when there’s more care, there’s less hospitalization, there’s less ER trips, there’s more nutrition.”
Better pay at Sheetz
Stakeholders recount dozens of similar stories of aides leaving to work at amusement parks, Sheetz stores, orfast-food restaurants because the pay is better. What’s more: Some home health aides will choose to work in a nearby state where wages are all higher than those paid in Pennsylvania.
Cathy Creevey, a home health aide who works for Bayada in Philly, made $6.25 when she started working in the field nearly 25 years ago. Now, she makes just $13.50. She has watched countless colleagues quit to take higher-paying jobs elsewhere, resulting in missed shifts and seniors that go without the care they need.
“We have patients that are 103, 105, and when that aide doesn’t show up their whole world is turned upside down because sometimes we’re the only people that they see to come in, to feed them, to bathe them,” Creevey said.
While Creevey said she stays in the work because she cares about her patients, she said the long hours and low pay are difficult.
Fewer and fewer people being willing to take on the jobs means seniors going without care or being forced intoalready understaffed nursing homes throughout the state.
“Participants are waiting for care that isn’t coming,” said Mia Haney, the CEO of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association.
Haney said she hoped McClinton’s advocacy will help drive the issue heading into the next budget season.
“She has a wonderful opportunity to really influence her peers, but also raise awareness and education about how meaningful and critical these services are,” Haney said.
In addition to McClinton’s advocacy, 69 House Democrats sent a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro earlier this month, calling for more funding for the struggling industry just as Shapiro is set to make his 2026-27 budget proposal next month.
Older Pennsylvanians prefer to “age in place,” or stay in their homes where they remain connected to their communities, said Kevin Hancock, who led the creation of a statewide 10-year strategic plan to improve care for the state’s rapidly aging population.
“Nursing facilities and hospital services get a lot of attention in the space of older adult services, but it’s home care that really is the most significant service in Pennsylvania,” Hancock said. “The fact that it doesn’t seem to warrant the same type of attention and same type of focus is pretty problematic.”
House Speaker Joanna McClinton (right) meets with home care worker Rachael Gleisner (center) and home care recipient Sheila Alexander in her West Philadelphia home on Jan. 20.
Home care remains popular in Pa.
The fight to increase dollars for home care workers has been an uphill battle in Harrisburgeven with the speaker’s support.
More Medicaid dollars go to home care services than any other program in Pennsylvania due to its popularity among Medicaid recipients, Hancock said. Meanwhile, its critical care workers — a majority of whom are women or women of color — still make low wages for often physically and emotionally demanding work.
A study by the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services last year determined that a 23% increase would be necessary for agencies to offer competitive wages, but the state’s final budget deal did not include it. (The final budget deal did provide increases to direct aides hired by patients, which represent about 6% of all home care workers in the state.)
Home care agencies are asking Shapiro to include a 13% reimbursement rate increase in the 2026-27 budget, which equates to a $512 million increase for the year. The 13% ask, Haney said, was a “reasonable and fair” first step in what would need to be a phased approach to reaching competitive wages.
But neither Shapiro nor Senate GOP leadership has committed to any increases in the forthcoming budget.
Pennsylvania House Speaker Joanna McClinton listens as Gov. Josh Shapiro delivers his budget address to a joint session of the state House and Senate at the State Capitol on Feb. 4, 2025.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Shapiro said the governor understood the need and cited his support for limited increases in last year’s budget and for a proposed statewide minimum wage increase to $15 per hour. (Previous efforts by the Democratic House to increase the state’s minimum wage have stalled in the GOP-controlled Senate.)
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R., Indiana) said his caucus will put the state’s “future financial stability” before all else. Pennsylvania is expected to spend more than it brings in in revenue this year, setting the stage for yet another tense budget fight.
“While we’ve seen Democrats continually push for more spending within the state budget year after year, any increases require thoughtful consideration as to the impact on hardworking taxpayers of Pennsylvania,” Pittman added.
Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman, a Republican from Indiana County, is joined by other GOP Senate leaders criticizing Gov. Josh Shapiro’s proposed budget last year.
McClinton, however, was cautiously optimistic that something could be done this year, even as she placed the onus on Senate Republicans, rather than Shapiro.
“We’ve seen Republicans refusing to work, refusing to resolve issues, that’s not acceptable,” McClinton said. “I’ve seen an unwillingness from Republicans to resolve these issues.”
Republicans, she said, should come to the table because staffing shortages harmed their constituents in rural Pennsylvania even more than it harmed hers in Philly.
“We have to get our heads around the fact that we have the lowest reimbursement rates in our area,” McClinton said in an interview after visiting two patients in her district. “We have to make the investment now. We have lots of needs. We have lots of priorities, but we can balance them.”
HARRISBURG — In the race for Pennsylvania governor, State Treasurer Stacy Garrity still has a lot of work to do.
With a little more than ninemonths until Election Day, the state Republican Party-endorsed candidate must convince top GOP donors that her campaign is worth investing in, making the case that she can motivate voters — andbeat popular incumbent Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Garrity announced earlier this month that from August through December, her campaign raised nearly $1.5 million — almost as much as the 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate, Doug Mastriano, raised in the entirety of his campaign. But the amount is only a fraction of the $30 million war chest Shapiro has built up over the last few years.
Republican insiders for months have said privately they see the race against Shapiro, a Democratic governor with consistently high approval ratings and a rising national star, as one they have slim chances at winning in November.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (right) listens to Stacy Garrity, the 78th state treasurer, at the Forum Auditorium in Harrisburg, Pa., on Jan. 21, 2025. It was the day she was sworn in.
Still, they’re hoping that Garrity, a retired U.S. Army colonel who in 2024 broke the record for receiving the most votes in a state-level race — a record previously held by Shapiro — will be able to deliver a high enough level of excitement among Republican voters in Pennsylvania to drive them to the polls, where down-ballot races for control of the U.S. House and state Senate are also on the line.
Some GOP insiders have pointed to Garrity’s limited early fundraising haul as make-or-break for the state’s whole Republican ticket — and the political future of Pennsylvania.
“This is the Democrats’ first real opportunity to gain a trifecta in Pennsylvania that could lock up Pennsylvania from being a ‘purple’ state to a solid blue state every election here onward,” said Matt Brouillette, who leads Commonwealth Partners and its political action committees, which often contribute to Republican candidates and are largely funded by Pennsylvania’s richest man, Jeffrey Yass.
Brouillette leads the Commonwealth Leaders Fund, a powerful PAC that sat out the 2022 gubernatorial race that the PAC saw Mastriano as unable to win. Brouillette said in an interview earlier this month that the fund still had yet to decide whether it will invest in Garrity’s campaign.
There isn’t a specific number Brouillette said he wants to see her raise before he chooses to get involved in the governor’s race, but he is overall “encouraged to see Stacy solidifying support for her candidacy.”
“Stacy is going to have to attract national investment the way Josh has,” Brouillette said. “Our donors won’t be sufficient. Stacy is going to have to be competitive nationally to make this a race.” (After publication of this story, Brouillette said the PAC would invest in Garrity’s race, but did not disclose a dollar amount.)
As 2028 inches closer, Shapiro’s national reach continues to grow — and with that, he has been able to flex his fundraising skills across the country. He will publish his first book on Tuesday, a memoir called Where We Keep the Light, in what is largely seen as a telltale sign that a candidate is considering a presidential run. He has promised to use his influence in Pennsylvania to support Democrats down the ballot, including in four congressional districts the party hopes to flip in the midterms — and deliver Democrats a majority in the U.S. House.
Campaign finance filings detailing who contributed to both Shapiro and Garrity’s campaigns won’t be available until next week. Shapiro broke fundraising records in the 2022 race, and is on track to do the same again this year.
Still, Garrity has been rolling out a number of endorsements from top Pennsylvania Republicans, including on Friday from U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R., Pa.), who is running for reelection in one of the districts Democrats hope to flip. But she has yet to receive Trump’s support or endorsement, and was not mentioned by Trump when she attended his most recent Pennsylvania rally.
The hesitancy appears to have extended to the lieutenant governor’s contest. Garrity still has yet to announce who she would like to be her running mate. Only a few candidates have announced their candidacy for lieutenant governor so far, and the state GOP is expected to endorse Garrity’s pick at its February meeting.
A spokesperson for Garrity’s campaign said she is “humbled by the outpouring of support she’s received from supporters all across the commonwealth, including from members of the Commonwealth Partners’ leadership,” who share her vision for the state and frustrations with Shapiro.
“No moment crystalized this support more than when the PAGOP took the unusual step of endorsing Treasurer Garrity’s campaign so early, which served as the catalyst for the momentum she’s building to defeat Josh Shapiro this November,” said Garrity’s spokesperson, Matt Benyon, in a statement.
A spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Republican Party declined to comment.
Garrity will host a kickoff fundraiser in Philadelphia on Wednesday, said Bob Asher, Garrity’s finance chair.
As for her fundraising numbers since December, Asher said, with a smile: “Stay tuned.”
Grassroots support vs. Shapiro’s war chest
In announcing her first haul, Garrity’s campaign said 97% of her contributions came from Pennsylvania residents, and 75% of the contributions were under $100. Shapiro, for his part, boasted that the $30 million in his campaign coffers came from all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties, as well as financial support from all 50 states.
A large number of small-dollar campaign contributions can suggest grassroots support — translating to an energized voter base on Election Day — for a candidate that big-dollar or corporate political action committee funds can’t capture. But the bigger the war chest, the more a candidate can spend to get their name on the airwaves.
Other GOP insiders are pointing their fingers at the state Republican Party, using Garrity’s early fundraising numbers as proof they are not doing enough to back her up in the race against Shapiro and that they’re setting themselves up for failure in November.
For Jim Worthington, the owner of the Newtown Athletic Club and a Bucks County GOP power player, Garrity’s early struggles are a result of failings by the state GOP to plan ahead and invest in mail voting.
“It’s an indictment of the party,” Worthington said. “I understand why some people are hesitant to give money. They’re looking at the tea leaves and saying, ‘Look, we lost the year.’”
“It’s going to be difficult for Stacy, and I feel bad because she is a hell of a candidate,” he added.
State Treasurer Stacy Garrity greets supporters after a campaign rally in Bucks County on Sept. 25, 2025. The GOP gubernatorial candidate visited the Newtown Sports & Events Center, in one of Pennsylvania’s top swing counties.
Worthington said anytime he talks to national Republicans in Washington or Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, where he’s a member, he mentions Garrity’s race as one in which they should invest.
At the very least, he argues, top Republicans should help Garrity in an effort to ensure Shapiro doesn’t “have a cakewalk right into 2028,” as speculation continues to surround Shapiro about his political aspirations. Worthington said he even brought this up directly to Vice President JD Vance, the GOP’s expected 2028 successor to Trump, at Vance’s holiday party.
As for Garrity, Worthington said he believes she can win, calling her “an excellent candidate” with a hard work ethic.
“Make no mistake, it’s gonna be a tough go,” Worthington added. “But I’m 100% sure she can win.”
Independent and unaffiliated voters were left off Chester County’s poll books in November’s election due to human error exacerbated by insufficient training, poor oversight and staffing challenges in the county office, an independent firm has concluded.
In November, more than 12,000 Chester County voters were forced to vote by provisional ballot after the county included just registered Democrats and Republicans in the poll books for the general election. Every voter who wanted towas able to cast a ballot, county officials said, but it resulted in a chaotic scene and the county had to issue an unusually high number of provisional ballots — which require more steps to cast and count.
On Thursday, the county released a 24-page report from a West Chester law firm detailing how the county failed to include more than 75,000 registered voters in its general election poll books, and evaluating the state and county’s response as it scrambled to ensure those voters could cast ballots.
“Importantly, our investigation found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing, misconduct, or bad faith on the part of any of the employees who generated the Poll Books. The error was inadvertent and occurred in the course of performing assigned duties under significant time constraints,” the report, prepared by Fleck, Eckert, Klein and McGarry LLC, said.
“Though the initial selection constituted a human error, the investigation found that the error occurred within a system lacking in: (i) sufficient safeguards, (ii) training, (iii) sufficient supervision, and; (iv) verification controls,” investigators added.
What’s next in Chester County?
The firm’s report detailed more than a dozen recommended steps for the county and Department of State to take to prevent future errors.
In an action plan released Thursday, Chester County officials said they intend to abide by the vast majority of those recommendations, as well as additional steps identified by the county’s Chief Experience Officer.
Chester County Chief Executive Officer David Byerman said in a statement that the recommendations would be completed within a year, with the most critical steps coming ahead of May’s primary election.
The action plan included improved training and more strenuous review processes, reevaluation of Voter Services staff levels and pay, and a review of human resources policies in the department. It did not include personnel changes within its Voter Services Department.
The 25-person department has faced unusually high turnover among staff in recent years, losing 29 employees to resignations, firings and transfers since the current director, Karen Barsoum, took over in 2021.
Barsoum has faced allegations of fostering a toxic work environment, which Thursday’s report acknowledged. However, the firm concluded that those complaints were not connected to the poll book error and said in its report that employees directly connected to the poll book blunder spoke positively about department management.
“Moreover, the various causes of the Poll Book issue that we have identified do not appear to have any causal nexus with the types of concerns raised,” the report said.
How did the error happen?
According to the report, two employees inadvertently chose the wrong selection of Chester County voters when they used the statewide voter roll software to create November’s poll books. Those employees, the report said, were inexperienced and had never been formally trained on the system they were using. While the employees had a copy of written training materials from the Department of State, the report noted that they worked with “little direct supervision” for their level of experience.
After the wrong set of voters were chosen — leaving off third party and unaffiliated voters — the report said no one in the department checked the books until a poll worker noticed the problem shortly before polls opened on Election Day.
The report noted the department’s high turnover, which it said could be the result of the high-pressure environment of election-related work and Chester County’s low pay compared to surrounding counties. That turnover, the report said, created “increased operational risk” which contributed to the error.
Following the incident, the county said it will review staffing and pay levels for the office as well as its human resources policies.
“We know that working in elections is an extremely difficult job – one that involves long hours and many personal sacrifices,” Byerman said. “We are truly grateful for the commitment and dedication of the staff in Voter Services, and want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to provide the resources, tools, and support they need to be successful in their roles.”
The department, the county’s action plan said, will also establish additional approval checks for poll books and other procedures that impact all Chester County voters.
County officials also said they intend to improve training for the department, including working with the Pennsylvania Department of State to implement formal training on the state’s voter roll system.
“The Department always stands ready to assist counties with training of employees on the [Statewide Uniform Registry of Electors] system and other aspects of election administration and is happy to engage Chester further to improve its training process,” the Pennsylvania Department of State said in a statement.
The agency added that its ongoing effort to modernize the statewide voter roll system will include checks and alerts for unusual poll book configurations once completed.
Chester County is scheduled to hold a public meeting Tuesday evening to present its plan to the public. If the forecasted winter storm closes county offices that day, the meeting will be postponed to Feb. 3.
Joseph R. Syrnick, 79, of Philadelphia, retired chief engineer and surveyor for the Philadelphia Streets Department, president and chief executive officer of the Schuylkill River Development Corp., vice chair of the Philadelphia City Planning Commission, former adjunct professor, college baseball star at Drexel University, mentor, and “the ultimate girl dad,” died Saturday, Jan. 17, of cancer at his home in Roxborough.
Reared on Dupont Street in Manayunk and a Roxborough resident for five decades, Mr. Syrnick joined the Streets Department in 1971 after college and spent 34 years, until his retirement in 2005, supervising hundreds of development projects in the city. He became the city’s chief engineer and surveyor in 1986 and oversaw the reconstruction of the Schuylkill Expressway and West River Drive (now Martin Luther King Jr. Drive) in the 1980s, and the addition of new streetlights and trees on South Broad Street and the upgrade of six city golf courses in the 1990s.
He was an optimist and master negotiator, colleagues said, and he worked well with people and the system. “You have concepts that seem simple,” he told The Inquirer in 1998. “But when you commit them to writing, they raise all kinds of other questions.”
In 2000, as Republicans gathered in Philadelphia for their national convention, Mr. Syrnick juggled transit improvements on Chestnut Street and problems with the flags on JFK Boulevard. He also helped lower speed limits in Fairmount Park and added pedestrian safety features on Kelly Drive.
He beautified Penrose Avenue and built a bikeway in Schuylkill River Park. He even moderated impassioned negotiations about where the Rocky statue should be placed.
Since 2005, as head of the Schuylkill River Development Corp., he deftly partnered with public and private agencies, institutions, and corporations, and oversaw multimillion-dollar projects that built the celebrated Schuylkill River Trail, renovated a dozen bridges, and generally improved the lower eight-mile stretch of the Schuylkill, from the Fairmount Dam to the Delaware River, known as Schuylkill Banks.
In an online tribute, colleagues at the Schuylkill River Development Corp. praised his “perseverance and commitment to revitalizing the tidal Schuylkill.” They noted his “legacy of ingenuity, optimism, and service.” They said: “Joe was more than an extraordinary leader. He was a great Philadelphian.”
Dennis Markatos-Soriano, executive director of the East Coast Greenway Alliance, said on Facebook: “He exuded confidence, humility, and unwavering commitment.”
Mr. Syrnick reviews plans to extend a riverside trail in 2009.
Mr. Syrnick was a constant presence on riverside trails, other hikers said. He organized regattas and movie nights, hosted riverboat and kayak tours, cleaned up after floods, and repurposed unused piers into prime fishing platforms.
“Great cities have great rivers,” Mr. Syrnick told The Inquirer in 2005. “Here in Philadelphia, we have Schuylkill Banks.”
He was a Fairmount Park commissioner for 18 years, was named to the Philadelphia City Planning Commission in 2008, and served as vice chair. He lectured about the Schuylkill often and taught engineering classes and led advisory panels at Drexel. In 2015, he testified before the state Senate in support of a waterfront development tax credit.
Friends called him “a visionary,” “a true hero,” and “a Philly jewel.” One friend said: “He should be honored by a street naming or something.”
Mr. Syrnick (fourth from left) and his family pose near a riverboat.
Paul Steinke, executive director of the Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia, said on Facebook: “He left his native Philadelphia a much better place.”
Mr. Syrnick was president of the Philadelphia Board of Surveyors and active with the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia, and other organizations. At Drexel, he earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering in 1969 and a master’s degree in 1971.
In 2024, Drexel officials awarded him an honorary doctorate for “his visionary leadership in engaging diverse civic partners to revive the promise of a waterfront jewel in Philadelphia.”
He played second base on the Roman Catholic High School baseball team. He was captain of the 1968 Drexel team and later played against other local standouts in the old Pen-Del semipro league.
Mr. Syrnick (center in white shirt) had all kinds of way to publicize fun on the Schuylkill. This photo appeared in The Inquirer in 2007.
Most of all, everyone said, Mr. Syrnick liked building sandcastles on the beach and hosting tea parties with his young daughters and, later, his grandchildren. He grew up with three brothers. Of living with three daughters, his wife, Mary Beth, said: “It was a shock.”
His daughter Megan said: “It was a learning experience. Whether it was sports or tea parties, he became the ultimate girl dad.”
Joseph Richard Syrnick was born Dec. 19, 1946, in Philadelphia. He spent many summer days riding bikes with pals on Dupont Street and playing pickup games at the North Light Community Center.
He knew Mary Beth Stenn from the neighborhood, and their first date came when she was 14 and he was 15. They married in 1970, moved up the hill from Manayunk to Roxborough, and had daughters Genevieve, Amy, and Megan.
Mr. Syrnick received his honorary doctorate from Drexel in 2024.
Mr. Syrnick enjoyed baseball, football, and golf. He was active at St. Mary of the Assumption and Holy Family Churches, and he and his wife traveled together across Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.
“He was humble,” his daughter Megan said. “He was quiet in leadership. He always said: ‘It’s the team.’”
In addition to his wife and daughters, Mr. Syrnick is survived by seven grandchildren, his brother Blaise, and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
Visitation with the family is to be from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 23, at Koller Funeral Home, 6835 Ridge Ave., Philadelphia, Pa. 19128, and 9:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at Holy Family Church, 234 Hermitage St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19127. A Mass celebrating his life is to follow at 11 a.m.
Conlen Booth doesn’t typically like to be in the spotlight.
Booth considers himself a “behind-the-scenes” guy who typically shies away from the limelight. Yet on Jan. 6, surrounded by friends, family, and colleagues, Booth was sworn in as Swarthmore’s mayor.
Booth, 42, brings more than two decades of emergency management experience to the job, including overseeing emergency services for major hospitals and governments. He’s also spent the past 25 years with Swarthmore’s fire department, most recently as chief. Booth is Delco-bred — a Nether Providence kid, a graduate of Strath Haven High School, and a cheerleader for his home borough of Swarthmore.
As the borough contends with the fallout of last year’s shuttering of Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital, budget shortfalls, and potential fire department consolidation, Booth believes his background in emergency services and deep ties to Swarthmore make him the right guy for the job.
Mayor Conlen Booth in downtown Swarthmore on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026.
‘If not me, then who?’
Booth got into local politics the way many do — reluctantly.
It took nudging from friends and family to step into the mayoral race. But the COVID-19 pandemic revealed a need for municipal leaders who understand emergency management and can govern in a crisis, Booth says.
An age-old phrase kept circulating in his mind: “If not me, then who?”
Booth competed against borough council members Kristen Seymore and David Boonin in the Democratic primary. Boonin dropped out of the race in January 2025. In February, the borough’s Democratic committee voted to endorse Booth’s candidacy 15-4, and Seymore dropped out.
The committee’s endorsement is powerful in Swarthmore. Democratic candidates who do not receive an endorsement are discouraged from running, and in the liberal-leaning town, there are seldom competitive general elections. Booth replaced Marty Spiegel, who had led the borough since 2019.
Who is Mayor Booth?
Booth was born in Harrisburg and moved to Delaware County at age 2. He grew up down the street from Nether Providence Elementary School and spent summers down the Shore with his close-knit extended family and collection of family dogs.
His maternal grandfather, Joseph Labrum, was a longtime judge and attorney in Media. Booth remembers visiting him in his chambers and watching him in the courtroom.
“I think seeing him in his role as a judge was always something that fascinated me,” he said.
Booth and his partner, Tracy, met working in healthcare and have been together for around 15 years. They live with Huckleberry, their Australian cattle dog.
Booth became interested in emergency services in high school. He set his sights on becoming a doctor and spent his teenageyears working on an ambulance.
Four days before he moved into his freshman dorm at the University of Pittsburgh, he watched a good friend die in front of him. The goal changed from enrolling in medical school to just making it through college.
“It just sort of rattled things,” he said.
Mayor Conlen Booth with his dog, Huckleberry, in downtown Swarthmore on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026.
Booth graduated from Pitt in 2005 with a bachelor’s degree in emergency medicine, an emerging field at the time. He earned his paramedic certification and learned the business-side of managing emergency medical teams.
He returned home and took a job with the now-shuttered Delaware County Memorial Hospital, his first role in what would become a long career in emergency medicine. In 2019, he was anemergency response shift supervisor at the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery during the massive explosion that left five people hurt and ended up shuttering the facility (Booth describes it as a “pretty insane period” in his life). Booth later spent four years as the senior director of emergency preparedness and emergency medical services at Crozer. He most recently worked as a consultant helping get supplies and meals to recently arrived refugees and asylum-seekers in New York City.
In tandem with his career in emergency management, Booth has served as a volunteer in Swarthmore’s fire department since 2000, working his way up from rookie firefighter to chief. Last year, hehelped developthe Advanced Life Support ambulance partnership with neighboring communitiesthat has filled gaps for residentsafter the Crozer closures.
Pat Francher, a longtime Swarthmore resident and community organizer, said Booth has the “awareness and perspective” that comes from a “real in-depth involvement in community welfare.”
“I’m terrible about saying no to people when they ask me to do something,” Booth joked.
This summer, Booth suffered a serious, non-work-related injury. He’s been in recovery since, and has come a long way.
“It could have been so much worse,” Booth said. “I have a lot to be thankful for.”
The SEPTA Regional Rail station in Swarthmore on Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, during the second snowfall of the weekend. The station is between downtown Swarthmore and Swarthmore College and serves the Media/Wawa Line.
What’s next for Swarthmore?
Booth sees educating borough council about the community’s emergency medical needs as a large part of his job as mayor.
Jill Gaeski, borough council president, called Booth “the perfect guy” to help the 6,200-person borough navigate the challenges that lie ahead.
The shuttering of Crozer’s hospitals continues to impact access to medical care. At the same time, the Garden City (Nether Providence and Rose Valley), South Media, and Swarthmore fire companies are in discussions about a possible merger.
“[Booth] can really help us understand the pain points and where the sweet spots are,” Gaeski said.
Booth says he wants to be a cheerleader for the borough, bringing in tourism and economic growth in a way that maintains Swarthmore’s small-town feel.
He also hopes to reengage Swarthmore College’s student body, which he says has become less civically involvedas the years have passed.
“I already feel sentimental about this town,” Booth said, citing the people, restaurants, traditions, and community events that make his hometown special.
“How do we bolster all of these things and how do we engage more people?”
This suburban content is produced with support from the Leslie Miller and Richard Worley Foundation and The Lenfest Institute for Journalism. Editorial content is created independently of the project donors. Gifts to support The Inquirer’s high-impact journalism can be made at inquirer.com/donate. A list of Lenfest Institute donors can be found at lenfestinstitute.org/supporters.
Scowling under a wool cap and a hood, Robert DeJesus stood in the bitter wind outside the Sunrise Diner in Allentown last week and confessed his “big mistake”: voting for President Donald Trump in 2024.
“The guy makes ‘cookie promises,’” said DeJesus, 57, a retired construction worker and independent voter from Allentown in Lehigh County. “They’re easy made and easy broken.”
Trump’s biggest gains in the state in 2024 were concentrated in the Lehigh Valley and in Northeastern Pennsylvania. But a year into his second presidency, there are signs that his winning coalition is splintering.In interviews across five counties in the region, some voters shared their disappointment with rising grocery prices and what they see as Trump’s failure to keep his commitments.
Even while hailing some of Trump’s policies, several Republicans interviewed said they were put off by his manner as well as his stance on key issues. That disillusionment could spell trouble for Pennsylvania Republicans as they look to hold onto two key swing congressional seatsin this region in November.
Robert DeJesus of Allentown voted for President Donald Trump in 2024, but he now regrets that decision.
Explaining his problems with Trump, DeJesus said the president pledged “but didn’t deliver” lower grocery prices. And at the same time DeJesus and his family are contending with “insane” supermarket costs, he said, Trump cut taxes for billionaires with the sweeping domestic policy package he signed last year. It has made DeJesus feel overlooked and overwhelmed.
“He left nothing for the working man,” DeJesus said. “People say it’s good the price of gas went down under Trump. But how we have to live, with high food and high rent, makes no sense.”
Diana Kird, 58, a Republican who also pulled the lever for Trump, is experiencing buyer’s remorse much like DeJesus.
“I don’t know what we’re doing in Venezuela,” said the nurse from Lehighton in Carbon County as she stood outside a Giant supermarket in town.
“We need to stop getting into foreign wars,” a promise Trump made and “ignored,” Kird added.
Kird said she has not seen Trump come through on his commitments. “He’s wash-rinse-repeat for me,” she said, “saying the same things over again,” such as promising cheaper groceries, “yet doing nothing.”
Trump’s “refusal to release all the Epstein files” after saying he would was another disappointment that makes her wish she had not supported the president, she added.
Republican U.S. Reps. Ryan Mackenzie (left) and Rob Bresnahan (right)
Mackenzie and fellow freshman U.S. Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a Republican who won his neighboring Northeastern Pennsylvania district by less than a point, are among the top targets for Democrats in November as the party hopes it can win back the House with a focus on affordability.
In a statement Wednesday, Mackenzie blamed the Biden administration for high prices and described Trump as “a vital partner” in efforts to improve the cost of living.
“We have made real progress,” he said, “reducing gas prices to their lowest level since COVID, keeping inflation below 3%, and delivering real tax relief for every American.”
Bresnahan’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Both Trump and Vice President JD Vance barnstormed throughthe regionlast month, seeking to counteract Democrats’ affordability message, which Trump has bemoaned as a “hoax.”
But recent moves by Mackenzie and Bresnahan show the two Republicans are giving the issue more weight and seeking to distance themselves from Trump on the high cost of living ahead of tough contests in November.
“The break with the president on healthcare wasn’t surprising. Both men are feeling the heat from constituents,” said Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion.
Borick noted that Trump’s 2024 win in the state was due in large part to his gains with voters of color, younger voters, and independents. Those same voters could be crucial to determining how Pennsylvania votes in the next election.
“But now they’re disappointed.”
Trump is ‘fearless’ and ‘honest’
There were warm feelings for Trump at the Coop, a popular diner in Coopersburg, a town just outside Allentown in Lehigh County.
“Trump’s a confident and honest man who knows business, and made a lot of money. I so admire him. And we need him,” saidTiffany Osmun, 27, who works as a host at the restaurant.
“He’s fearless, and not afraid of what he has to do,” Osmun said.
She plans to vote for Mackenzie in November, she said, adding, “I won’t be voting for any Democrat in the midterms.”
And if Trump ever popped up in another election, Osmun said, “I’d vote for him again.” In his Pennsylvania speech last month, Trump referenced running for a third term, despite constitutional barriers.
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Other Trump voters, however, acknowledged frustrations withthe first year of his second presidency — even if they are pleased with most of Trump’s policies.
“I don’t like his personality,” saidBud Hackett, 72, a semiretired construction business owner who lives in Bethlehem.
Hackett praised Trump’s moves to curtail immigration and shrink the size of the federal workforce, but he bristled at other actions.
“I’d say over the last year, he’s done maybe 100 things, 70 of which will result in people’s lives being better off. The other 30 have to do with stuff like building a huge ballroom [after tearing down the East Wing of the White House] for his giant, weird ego that I can’t buy into.”
Trump may have generated a few problems on the home front, conceded soft-drink merchandiser Bobby Remer, a 31-year-old resident of Palmerton in Carbon County. But the president more than compensates by reminding the world just how powerful the United States can be, he said.
Remer supports the president’s attacks on boats allegedly carrying drugs from Venezuela, as well as Trump’s capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife.
“He’s done great militarily, throwing our swag around,” Remer said. “It’ll show China, which floods America with fentanyl to wipe out our military-aged men with addiction, that we have a hammer that we’ll use against any nation trying to destroy us.”
But pocketbook issues could matter more in November to other voters — especially after Trump made attacking Democrats on inflation a major theme of his 2024 campaign.
An October pollfrom Franklin and Marshall College asked voters in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania how they would compare their financial status with a year ago. Around 29% of Republicans said they were better off, while 34% said they were worse off, with 37% saying they were in the same position.
Among voters listed as independents “or something else” (such as a third party), 14% said they were better off, 32% said they were worse off, and 55% said they remained the same. Nearly half of Democrats said they were worse off, with 9% saying things were better and 43% saying they were the same.
“Things definitely got bad under Trump. He’s heading us toward dictatorship,” said Malinda Brodt, 65, a Democrat who lives in Saylorsburg in Monroe County, which had the biggest shift to Trump in the state in 2024.
Several Trump voters who were interviewed heaped praise on the president for lowering prices — despite mixed results — and a few quoted Trump’s speech in Mount Pocono that referred to affordability as a hoax.
“He’s gotten down the cost of living, that’s for sure,” said Carol Solt, 80, retired from working in a bait-and-tackle shop in Lehighton. “He keeps his promises.”
While gas and egg prices have decreased in the last year, the cost of food overall rose 3.1% last month compared with December 2024. Increased prices for beef (1%), coffee (1.9%), and fruits and vegetables (0.5%) led the way, according to consumer price index data released earlier this month.
Ultimately, Kird, the Lehighton voter, concluded before she entered her Giant supermarket that the good times the president assured Americans they would see have yet to materialize.
“Life is just more expensive under Trump,” she said.
