Republican Jason Richey built a wide lead over retired UPS executive John Ventre on Tuesday night in the primary election for lieutenant governor.
Richey, 54, of Sewickley, secured a commanding edge in the race to become the running mate to GOP gubernatorial candidate Stacy Garrity. The winner of the Republican ticket will face the Democratic team of Gov. Josh Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis in November.
As partial, unofficial returns expanded across the state, Richey held 64.53% of the statewide vote with 315,974 total votes. Ventre trailed with 35.47% and 173,690 total votes.
Richey’s totals included 231,343 Election Day votes and 84,631 mail-in ballots, while Ventre captured 125,071 Election Day votes and 48,619 mail-in ballots. All results are unofficial until certified by election officials.
Richey, a lawyer with the K&L Gates law firm in Pittsburgh and newly elected chairman of the Allegheny County Republican Committee, was recruited and endorsed by Garrity and Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick to run for lieutenant governor in Pennsylvania. The lieutenant governor is a rare position in Pennsylvania where party voters nominate running mates to serve on a ticket in the fall campaign with candidates chosen separately to run for the state’s highest office.
Garrity, the state’s two-term treasurer, ran unopposed in the Republican primary for governor. Shapiro and Lt. Gov. Austin Davis were also unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Richey briefly was a candidate for governor four years ago before withdrawing from the race prior to that year’s Republican primary.
Richey throughout this year’s campaign pledged support for Garrity’s agenda that includes a plan they said will bolster the state’s energy industry by promoting increased production of natural gas to grow revenue. That revenue would be used to offset property taxes and eliminate the state’s income tax, he said.
Richey and Garrity have appeared together at campaign events leading up to Election Day.
The campaign for lieutenant governor saw escalated rhetoric during the waning days of the race through a series of negative ads and social media posts targeting racially divisive comments attributed years ago to Ventre and his attempts to tie his campaign to Garrity.
Ventre, 69, of Hempfield has claimed Garrity’s endorsement of Richey was illegitimate and that he would seamlessly move into the role as her running mate in the fall’s gubernatorial election.
Ventre previously ran two unsuccessful campaigns for Westmoreland County commissioner and in 2022 launched a gubernatorial bid but failed to qualify for the Republican primary ballot.
Ventre has also been a controversial figure in Westmoreland County politics, where he sued the local Republican party leadership over its endorsements of incumbent commissioners he sought to oust.