Shapiro channels $29 million into ads and Pa. Democratic party as Garrity trails

Gov. Josh Shapiro’s financial advantage over Republican challenger Stacy Garrity has been obvious for a while, but the numbers buried in his nearly 5,000-page campaign finance report paint a stark difference. Shapiro spent about $32 million during the summer — 20 times what Garrity did — as he collected over $13 million to her $1.8 million. Both campaigns filed financial reports with the Pennsylvania Department of State on Tuesday. That fundraising prowess allowed Shapiro to plow nearly $5.7 million back into the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, which will help candidates across the state, as well as doling out $13.3 million to Grassroots Media of Bala Cynwyd for media buys, $4 million to Ascend Digital Strategies of Boulder, Colo., for digital fundraising consulting, and $5.7 million to Iowa-based GPS Impact for ad production. All of that — nearly $29 million if you’re counting — was spent just over the summer as the governor turned up the heat on Garrity and began blanketing TV stations across Pennsylvania with ads. On the receiving side, Shapiro collected over $4 million from political-action committees, many of them unions banking on the Democrat winning a second four-year term that could be interrupted with a run at the White House in 2028.

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