Shapiro and Garrity release dueling attack ads as Pennsylvania governor’s race intensifies

Pennsylvania’s race for governor is heating up, with Gov. Josh Shapiro and Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the GOP nominee, both unleashing new attack ads on Friday that highlighted the intensifying nature of the 2026 race. 

In new TV ads released on Friday, Shapiro’s campaign linked Garrity to President Donald Trump, referring to her as “100% MAGA” – while Garrity’s ad elevated the growing discontent with data centers across Pennsylvania, accusing Shapiro of selling the state out to data center developers. 

Shapiro’s ad – titled “100% MAGA” – includes clips of Trump and conservative state Sen. Doug Mastriano voicing support for Garrity, while also highlighting past comments from Garrity supporting Trump’s imposition of tariffs.

In the ad, a narrator states that Garrity is “all MAGA all the time.” The narrator adds: “She called Trump's tariffs fantastic, even though costs are skyrocketing. Garrity said Congress should pass Trump's cuts to nursing homes and health care ASAP. And as governor, Garrity will put Trump's agenda ahead of Pennsylvania.”  

Garrity’s campaign accused the Shapiro campaign of putting out “a dishonest, lying attack” ad, noting that Garrity recently told reporters that she would “probably do the tariffs a little bit differently.”

Garrity’s ad – titled “Sold Us Out” – zeroes in on Shapiro’s support for certain data center projects in the commonwealth, including a $20 billion investment by Amazon to build two data center campuses in the state.

“Josh Shapiro’s data center scandal keeps growing,” a narrator says in Garrity’s ad. “First, Shapiro handed Amazon a fortune in tax credits to build a data center here without any community input. Then Shapiro fast-tracked building permits, also without community input, and Shapiro said he’s putting even more data centers in our backyards. Now we know why. Shapiro pocketed over $5 million in political contributions from out-of-state data center developers.”

The $5 million figure referenced by Garrity’s campaign includes contributions from a range of individuals with ties to tech and AI, though not all are data center developers. The sum includes $3 million from Jennifer Duda, the wife of Arista Networks President Kenneth Duda, whose company manufactures hardware and networking software for data centers. Shapiro also received more than $2 million from LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, who has launched multiple AI startups, as well as a smaller $100,000 contribution from NorthPoint Development.

Shapiro’s tone on data center development has shifted amid growing concerns from Pennsylvania residents about a deluge of data center proposals across the state. 

After previously stating that Pennsylvania was “all in on AI” following the Amazon announcement, Shapiro more recently announced new standards that data center developers will need to meet to earn faster permitting approvals and other state tax benefits. This week, the governor criticized the handling of a data center proposal in Conshohocken, where local officials say a developer has intimidated and bullied the community. 

“This is the exact wrong way to do development here in Pennsylvania,” Shapiro said Friday in a post on X.

Garrity’s views on data centers have also seemingly evolved over the course of the last year, as she said in a 2025 interview on KDKA’s Big K Morning Show that “we need to deregulate” when discussing data center development. 

However, Garrity has since said that Pennsylvania should pause data center development to give communities the opportunity to update their zoning laws and ordinances, and has hosted a series of data center-focused listening sessions in communities across the state.