BUCKS COUNTY HERALD: At Warrington rally, Stacy Garrity outlines how she’d support veterans as governor

A quiet, late July evening, when many people are on vacation, doesn’t seem like the best time to hold a political rally.

And yet the Fire One hall in Warrington was packed with veterans who gave Republican gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity a toasty welcome to Bucks County Monday night.

Garrity, a retired colonel in the Army Reserve now serving as Pennsylvania’s treasurer, smiled broadly as she posed for photos with her fellow vets.

“Veterans deserve a governor who will fight for them as hard as they fought for us,” she told the cheering audience.

Her plans include training, employment and housing initiatives to help veterans and to bring their skills into her administration. “We will make hiring veterans a priority,” she said.

If elected, she said she would start a “veterans ambassador” program to ensure former members of the military know the services available to them and would offer businesses tax credits for employing veterans.

Garrity promised that “no veteran who ever served our country ever sleeps without a roof over their heads” if she is elected.

And she would start a registry of Gold Star families, those whose son or daughter, spouse or parent died while serving in the U.S. Armed Forces, promising that they would be remembered for the ultimate sacrifice their relatives made.

As treasurer, Garrity watches over the commonwealth’s $180 billion budget. A native of Bradford County, she is a graduate of Bloomsburg University and received certification from the Cornell University Business Management Institute. She worked her way up to vice president of Global Tungsten & Powder Corp. and served 30 years in the Army Reserve, participating in three overseas campaigns, including Operations Desert Storm, Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. She has earned two Bronze Stars and was called the “Angel of the Desert” for overseeing an internment camp without any complaints from Iraqi prisoners. She said her military service “was and is the honor of my lifetime.”

Incumbent Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro has amassed a formidable campaign chest of $18.41 million compared to Garrity’s $1.96 million, but Garrity seems undeterred.

Asked about a Democratic report that she is serving on an insurance company board while overseeing the treasury, Garrity said, “I will be off it when I win (the governor’s race).”

The event was attended by several prominent Bucks County Republicans, including new Bucks County Republican Committee Chairman Ted Christian, former Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley and retired Army Capt. David Christian, who Garrity described as the “youngest, most decorated serviceperson in the Vietnam War.” The two men with the last name of Christian are not related.

Ted Christian said that Garrity, as an underdog, won the treasurer’s post in 2020 and was re-elected in 2024, describing her as the “hardest worker” he knows. He also called Bucks “arguably the most important county in the country” for its representation of the country as a whole, while asking the veterans to get out the vote this November.

Garrity didn’t spend much time criticizing Shapiro but said, “Wasn’t it disgraceful when our governor didn’t want to celebrate at the Great American State Fair” that President Donald Trump promoted in Washington for the country’s 250th Independence Day celebration. While other states including California and New Jersey had sites at the fair, she said that Pennsylvania’s site was closed “with no flags and the doors were locked.”

David Christian said he thought Garrity “has a great chance,” to win because “she has so much to offer. She’s an experienced person.”

Cawley compared Garrity favorably to another person who he said, “loves to raise taxes” and wants a new contract but isn’t sure he’d be around to finish it, which drew laughter from the audience as Shapiro may be eying a presidential run if he is re-elected governor.

Also in attendance were Greg Bankos, of Plumstead, the Republican candidate in the race with incumbent state Sen. Steve Santarsiero in the 10th District and Mike Murphy, of Warrington, who is running against incumbent Brian Munroe for the state House seat representing the 144th District. Murphy, who battled esophageal cancer, said he fought hard to overcome it and is doing the same in this election.

Bankos said Pennsylvania has a responsibility and duty to help veterans in honor of their service and liked what Garrity said.

“I fully support everything she talked about tonight and then some,” he said.