Pa.’s Stacy Garrity has seen little monetary support from top GOP groups — but received millions from an unlikely donor

With just days left until the midterm election, Stacy Garrity, the Republican running an uphill campaign to challenge Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, received a last-minute influx of millions in much-needed campaign cash from an unlikely source.

Garrity, the state treasurer who received an unprecedentedly early showing of support from the state party and was endorsed in January by President Donald Trump, still has yet to receive financial support from the top GOP groups candidates often rely on to help them reach voters. She told The Inquirer last month that she was optimistic that the “cavalry will be coming” to back her campaign, including hope that Trump would visit the state ahead of Election Day — something he is not scheduled to do in the dwindling days ahead of Nov. 3 as he focuses on elections in other states with the U.S. Senate on the line.

Trump instead held an unscheduled telephone town hall Saturday on behalf of Garrity and several congressional Republicans.

The Republican National Committee, the Republican Governors Association, Pennsylvania Republican Party and other top GOP groups have not contributed directly to Garrity’s campaign, according to campaign finance reports filed through Thursday — although the RNC and state GOP say they are supporting Garrity in other ways.

Instead, that so-called cavalry appears to be from skill games industry distributors and manufacturers: Skill games industry backers, including the Pennsylvania Amusement and Music Machine Association, have contributed at least $5.5 million in total to Garrity’s campaign since Oct. 13, according to state campaign finance filings.

But will the eleventh-hour cash infusion — now allowing her to run more than $6 million in ads on TV and streaming services — be enough to boost her name recognition ahead of Election Day?

Skill games, which are slot-machine lookalikes that the state Supreme Court ruled earlier this year are the same as other gambling machines, were required to be removed from the market in October. The unregulated and untaxed industry is made up of the software producers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, and has become a lifeline for small businesses with low profit margins, such as gas stations, bars, and fraternal organizations.

Ever since she voiced support for the industry’s favored monthly $500 fee-per-machine plan during the Oct. 7 debate, calling the businesses which the industry supports the “backbone of Pennsylvania,” Garrity has received individual contributions from related industry groups — as well as skill games vendors, whose companies have checkered legal pasts, such as $2 million from John Conley, of Pittsburgh, and $100,000 Arthur Deibler, of Schuylkill County.

Shapiro supports a 52% tax on the machines to match the one levied on traditional slot machines in brick-and-mortar casinos.

Garrity is “encouraged by the groundswell of support she has received since her debate victory over Josh Shapiro earlier this month,” her campaign spokesperson Matt Beynon said in a statement. He also cited Shapiro’s relationship with Michael Rubin, a past campaign contributor and longtime friend of Shapiro who runs the sports empire Fanatics with stakes in Pennsylvania’s gambling industry. (Neither Rubin nor Fanatics have contributed to Shapiro’s gubernatorial campaign this cycle.)

Beynon declined to answer questions about the skill games industry’s late involvement in the race, but said Garrity’s position has remained the same since the state Supreme Court ruled the machines as illegal in the summer.

“She believes that small businesses, VFWs, American Legions, and fire halls need to be front and center in the debate over skill games regulation, not billionaire casino owners,” Beynon added.

“Stacy Garrity is raking in millions in contributions from special interest groups to try and save her disastrous campaign as she and her Senate Republican allies block progress for Pennsylvania,” said Manuel Bonder, a spokesperson for Shapiro’s campaign.

Garrity has struggled to fundraise throughout her 16-month campaign, despite her early backing by the state party in September 2025. The party cleared the primary field for Garrity, in an effort to more seriously challenge Shapiro after he pummeled his 2022 far-right opponent that top Republicans blamed for dragging down the rest of the ticket.

But once she announced her candidacy, she failed to generate the tens of millions of dollars needed to win Pennsylvania governor — especially against a formidable fundraiser like Shapiro, who has raised more than $60 million since the start of his campaign.

Garrity told The Inquirer in September that part of her struggle was that industry leaders that usually support GOP candidates had told her they could not support her challenge against Shapiro because they feared retribution from him if he’s reelected.

Statewide candidates like Garrity are expected to fundraise on their own, and contribute to the state party to help downballot races, like Shapiro has done by contributing more than $10 million to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and the campaign arms for state House and Senate races.

But as Republicans hoped to more seriously challenge Shapiro at the top of the ticket and generate enthusiasm for downballot races, Garrity’s fundraising fell short and in the face of strong headwinds national GOP support for her was nonexistent to prop her up — until the last two weeks of the election, when skill game backers got involved.

Political action committees backed by Pennsylvania’s richest man Jeffrey Yass have also not contributed to her campaign, instead opting for state legislative races as Republicans focus on retaining control of the state Senate.

» READ MORE: Will Donald Trump and national Republicans help Stacy Garrity’s campaign from falling flat against Josh Shapiro?

The state GOP said it has supported Garrity in a number of ways, including hosting hundreds of volunteer trainings, and spending millions on staff and direct mailers. Garrity reported $446,000 in in-kind contributions to her campaign on Thursday from the state GOP for mail and postage.

“Now, in the closing days of this election we are disbursing even more resources to get out the vote to help the campaign, reaching out to millions of voters across the commonwealth,” said James Markley, a spokesperson for the state Republican Party, in a statement.

“The Republican Party of Pennsylvania has been committed from day one,” Markley added. “We are proud to stand with Stacy Garrity and we are leaving it all on the field for her.”

The Republican National Committee, for its part, said in a statement it has “boots on the ground in Pennsylvania” door-knocking for GOP candidates, including Garrity. The RNC traditionally does not give directly to candidates, but sends money to state parties and campaign arms to support their election efforts.

The Republicans Governors Association did not respond to requests for comment.

George Bochetto, a well-known Philadelphia attorney and GOP booster, hosted a fundraiser for Garrity earlier this month. He’s not convinced by the polls that show Shapiro with a more than 20-point lead over Garrity, noting that she received the most votes of any state-level candidate in Pennsylvania history during the 2024 election.

“They’re off, and it’s belied by the vote total that she just received [in 2024],” Bochetto said, who contributed $10,000 to her campaign earlier this week. “She just received the best poll you can ever get: the actual vote counts.”