Campaigns & Elections

Millions are pouring into PA’s race for governor – here’s where the money’s coming from

More than $28 million was donated to the Republican and Democratic candidates over the last few months.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro and state Sen. Doug Mastriano

Attorney General Josh Shapiro and state Sen. Doug Mastriano Mark Makela/Getty Images

Pennsylvania’s latest batch of campaign finance reports surfaced this week, offering a glimpse into the finances of the state’s leading gubernatorial candidates. 

The figures brought good news to Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro, who currently serves as the state’s attorney general, and raised a whopping $25 million from June through September. The news was a little less positive for Shapiro’s opponent, GOP gubernatorial nominee and conservative state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who was not only outraised, but outspent by large margins.

So much information can be gleaned from campaign finance figures, including who is supporting a particular candidate, the level of grassroots support a politician has and – perhaps most importantly – the financial health of a campaign. City & State combed through the latest round of campaign finance reports to see how each candidate is faring in the battle to bulk up their war chests ahead of the November general election.

Shapiro vastly outraised Mastriano in the months following the primary.

Shapiro has a clear financial advantage heading into November, due in large part to the $25 million his campaign raised from June through September. Shapiro also spent more than $27 million, which covered staff salaries, consulting costs, media services, travel, political contributions and advertising, among other expenses. He finished the reporting period with $10.9 million in the bank, giving him a sizable financial cushion as the November general election nears. 

The bulk of Shapiro’s money came from contributions over $250, with the Democrat pulling in $11.5 million in individual contributions over that figure, and $9.7 million from political action committee donations that were over $250. Still, Shapiro raised more money from smaller-sized donations than did Mastriano, with Shapiro raising $2.7 million from donations between $50 and $250. 

Mastriano reported raising approximately $3.2 million during the reporting period, the majority of which came from donations over $250. Mastriano raised about $2.4 million from individual donations over $250, and $174,000 from PAC donations over $250. 

He also brought in roughly $420,000 from individual donations between $50 and $250, as well as about $500 from PAC donations within that same range. Mastriano spent just under $1 million during the reporting period, reporting expenses worth $997,615.50, much of which went toward consulting, communications services and media. He finished the reporting period with just under $2.6 million in his campaign account.

Notable donors in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race

What do GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein, filmmaker J.J. Abrams, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and conservative radio host Wendy Bell all have in common? They donated to Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial candidates, of course. 

Pennsylvania’s race for governor has attracted political donations from across the country, including from actors, public officials, businesses, investors and sports teams owners as donors look to give their preferred candidate a financial leg up heading into Election Day. 

Shapiro received $20,000 from Abrams and his wife, Kathleen McGrath, and also brought home some bacon – $1,000 – from actor Kevin Bacon. Owners and executives from several sports teams also donated to Shapiro’s cause, including Philadelphia Phillies owner John Middleton ($50,000), Pittsburgh Penguins President David Morehouse ($10,926.91), Philadelphia Eagles co-owner Christina Weiss Lurie ($10,000) and Pittsburgh Steelers owner Art Rooney II ($5,000).Shapiro also pulled in donations from business leaders and owners, such as $15,000 from Jeff Shell, CEO of NBC Universal; $2,500 from Nike executive Larry Miller; $500,000 from Mike Bloomberg; and $65,000 from Michael Dubin, founder of Dollar Shave Club.

Shapiro also received hefty donations from the Democratic Governors Association, which contributed a total of $5.1 million to him. He also raised $120,000 from relatives of Democratic megadonor George Soros. 

What do GOP megadonor Richard Uihlein, filmmaker J.J. Abrams, former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg and conservative radio host Wendy Bell all have in common? They donated to Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial candidates, of course.

Mastriano didn’t have the same success as Shapiro, but he did still bring in some high-profile donations: Republican donor Richard Uihlein, who gave $900,000 to Mastriano’s campaign and is a prominent contributor to Women Speak Out, an anti-abortion organization tied to Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, as well as former President Donald Trump and other conservative causes. Uihlein’s wife, Elizabeth, also donated $100,000 to Mastriano’s campaign. 

Notable donors to Mastriano also include conservative talk show host Wendy Bell ($1,000); Eric E. Kendle, general manager of Keystone RV Center ($50,000); and Andrew Torba, founder and CEO of the far-right social media platform Gab ($500).

PAC man: political action committees enter the fray

Both Mastriano and Shapiro received thousands (and in Shapiro’s case, millions) of dollars from political action committees. Mastriano brought in more than $420,000 from political action committees, while Shapiro raised nearly $10 million from PACs. PACs that donated to Mastriano include the Pennsylvania Opportunity PAC ($35,000), the Range Resources Energy Independence PAC ($10,000) and the Northeast Leadership Fund ($25,000). Some of Mastriano’s colleagues in the Pennsylvania General Assembly also contributed to his campaign. His running mate, state Rep. Carrie Lewis DelRosso, donated $50,000 from her political committee, while state Sens. Mike Regan ($10,000), Judy Ward ($5,000) and Gene Yaw ($1,000) also gave money to the GOP nominee.

Shapiro received money from PACs belonging to Home Depot ($5,000), Wawa ($10,000), the Pennsylvania Sierra Club ($37,500), Highmark ($25,000) and Comcast ($50,000). He also received two separate $250,000 donations from the Committee for a Better Tomorrow, a PAC tied to the Philadelphia Trial Lawyers Association. 

However, Shapiro’s biggest PAC contributions came from labor unions, with millions of dollars flowing in from labor unions and related organizations. He received $500,000 from the Laborers' International Union of North America PAC, another $500,000 from the AFSCME People Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality and more than $150,000 from the Pennsylvania State Education Association Political Action Committee for Education for State Elections.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.