A Sewickley attorney who serves as Allegheny County’s GOP chairman said Thursday that he is running for lieutenant governor with the endorsement of the presumptive Republican nominee for the state’s highest office, Stacy Garrity.
Jason Richey, 54, said he arrived at the decision to run over the past two weeks following discussions with Garrity, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick and Republican donors.
“I wasn’t seeking this position at all. All of this is happening at breakneck speed,” Richey said.
Garrity, in her second term as state treasurer, said Richey’s name was repeatedly mentioned as a potential running mate as she traveled across the state meeting with political, civic and business leaders.
“Not only is Jason Richey an accomplished attorney, but he is also a committed civic leader in the Greater Pittsburgh area. Jason understands the potential Pennsylvania has, but only if our commonwealth has the right leadership. Jason shares my serious concerns about Josh Shapiro’s failed tenure as governor,” Garrity, 61, of Bradford County, said in a statement.
This isn’t Richey’s first foray into statewide politics. He ran for governor four years ago but ended his campaign after nearly a year because it failed to gain enough traction in a crowded field of Republican candidates. Democrat Josh Shapiro, then the state’s attorney general, defeated Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano by about 15 percentage points in the November election.
Richey said many of the same issues that spurred him to run for governor four years ago remain.
“Pennsylvania is not meeting its potential,” Richey said, pointing to a U.S. News & World Report ranking placing the state 38th best in the nation economically, 39th in education and 41st overall. “We should be No. 1, but we haven’t moved forward over the last four years. We need change.”
“Stacy Garrity is someone who wants to solve problems and is willing to work across the aisle with Democrats to help move this state forward,” Richey said.
Despite the fact Shapiro’s campaign had $30 million in available cash at the end of last year compared to Garrity’s $1.5 million, Richey said Republicans have significantly narrowed the Democrats’ voter registration edge (from a gap of 936,000 a decade ago to 172,000 this week, according to state data) and the GOP’s message has resonated with many working-class voters.
“We are the party of the middle class. We’re looking out for the hard-working, blue-collar worker,” Richey said, pointing to Nippon Steel’s $14.9 billion acquisition of U.S. Steel. Former President Joe Biden had opposed the proposed deal, as did Trump initially, but he reversed course after the companies agreed to preserve thousands of American jobs and keep U.S. Steel’s headquarters in Pittsburgh, among other things.
Richey is a Downtown-based partner at K&L Gates. A Hopewell native who wrestled at Allegheny College and earned a law degree from Ohio State, Richey and his wife have three boys, all of whom are college wrestlers.
At least three other Republicans have announced campaigns for lieutenant governor: state Sen. Cris Dush of Jefferson County; Bucks County businessman Brian Thomas; and retired UPS executive John Ventre of Hempfield, a 2022 candidate for governor who also has run for Westmoreland County commissioner multiple times.
The Pennsylvania GOP will select a lieutenant governor candidate to endorse in a vote at its state committee winter meeting on Feb. 7, according to spokesman James Markley.