Stacy L. Garrity (born May 17, 1964) is an American politician, businesswoman, and former military officer who has served as the 79th

Treasurer of Pennsylvania The treasurer of Pennsylvania is the head of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, an independent department of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), commonwealth's government. The treasurer is elected every four years. Treasurers are limited to two c ...

since 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she ran for Treasurer of Pennsylvania against incumbent Democrat Joe Torsella, winning the Republican nomination unopposed. She defeated Torsella in the

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

in an upset, having been outraised financially and consistently down in the polls. Garrity went on to win reelection in

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, defeating Democratic challenger Erin McClelland. She received more than 3.5 million votes, the most cast for any statewide candidate in Pennsylvania history, surpassing Governor

Josh Shapiro Joshua David Shapiro (born June 20, 1973) is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania since 2023. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he was the attorney general of Pen ...

's record set in 2022. Garrity served in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

for 30 years and through three deployments during the

Gulf A gulf is a large inlet from an ocean or their seas into a landmass, larger and typically (though not always) with a narrower opening than a bay (geography), bay. The term was used traditionally for large, highly indented navigable bodies of s ...

and

Iraq War The Iraq War (), also referred to as the Second Gulf War, was a prolonged conflict in Iraq lasting from 2003 to 2011. It began with 2003 invasion of Iraq, the invasion by a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition, which ...

, where she was called "The Angel of the Desert" by other U.S. military officers. She left the Army Reserve in 2016 at the rank of

colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

. Garrity worked at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. from 1987 to 2021, where she reached the level of Vice President. In 2019, Garrity entered politics and ran for the Republican nomination for a

special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

in Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district, but lost to Fred Keller, who went on to win in the general election.

Early life and education

Garrity was born on May 17, 1964 in

Athens, Pennsylvania Athens is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania and is located south of the New York state line on the Susquehanna and Chemung rivers. The population was 3,749 in 1900 and 3,796 ...

. She attended Sayre Area High School in

Sayre, Pennsylvania Sayre is a borough in Bradford County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is the principal city in the Sayre, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. It lies southeast of Elmira, New York, and southwest of Bin ...

and later graduated from

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania Commonwealth University-Bloomsburg (CU-Bloomsburg, or Bloomsburg) is a campus of Commonwealth University of Pennsylvania in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE). The ...

with a degree in finance and economics, later earning a certificate from the Cornell University Business Management Institute.

Military career

Garrity served in the U.S. Army Reserve from 1986 to 2016, reaching a final rank of colonel. While in the Army Reserve, Garrity acted as a

Military Police Military police (MP) are law enforcement agencies connected with, or part of, the military of a state. Not to be confused with civilian police, who are legally part of the civilian populace. In wartime operations, the military police may supp ...

officer. Garrity was deployed three times during her military career: in 1991 for

Operation Desert Storm Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Man ...

, and in 2003–2004 as well as 2008–2009 for the

. Garrity was stationed at

Camp Bucca Camp Bucca () was a forward operating base that housed a theater internment facility maintained by the United States military in the vicinity of Umm Qasr, Iraq. After being taken over by the U.S. military (800th Military Police Brigade) in April ...

in southern

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

during the

. She worked to process detainees, manage family visitations, and act as a

Red Cross The organized International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 16million volunteering, volunteers, members, and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ...

liaison. It was here Garrity obtained the nickname "The Angel of the Desert" or "The Angel of Camp Bucca" for her affection when dealing with the prisoners housed at the camp. Garrity earned two

Bronze Stars The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

and the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a Awards and decorations of the United States military, military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievemen ...

before retiring in 2016.

Business career

Garrity worked at Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. (GTP) from 1987 to 2021. GTP is a producer of tungsten and metallurgic products based in Pennsylvania. Before leaving GTP to become Pennsylvania Treasurer, Garrity's final position at the company was Vice President for Government Affairs and Industry Liaison. In 2018, while Garrity managed government affairs for Global Tungsten & Powders, she successfully lobbied Congress to ban the U.S. military from purchasing any tungsten from China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. In 2017, Global Tungsten & Powders was sued in federal court by a competitor company, Tungsten Heavy Powder and Parts, for defamation. Tungsten Heavy Powder and Parts alleged that Garrity spread defamatory statements about them at an industry event. The claims made by Tungsten Heavy Powder and Parts were dismissed in a court of law, and Tungsten Heavy Powder and Parts was ordered to pay over $5 million in damages.

Political career

Congressional campaign

In 2019, Garrity ran for the Republican nomination in a

for Pennsylvania's 12th Congressional district after the resignation of incumbent

Tom Marino Thomas Anthony Marino (born August 13, 1952) is an American politician and attorney, who served as a United States House of Representatives, United States Representative from Pennsylvania from 2011 to 2019. He represented the from January 3, 20 ...

. Garrity lost the nomination to

state Representative A state legislature is a legislative branch or body of a political subdivision in a federal system. Two federations literally use the term "state legislature": * The legislative branches of each of the fifty state governments of the United St ...

Fred Keller, who was supported by President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

and eventually won the seat. After losing the Congressional nomination, Garrity pursued the 2020 race for Treasurer.

Pennsylvania Treasurer

Election

Garrity challenged incumbent Democrat Joe Torsella for

Pennsylvania Treasurer The treasurer of Pennsylvania is the head of the Pennsylvania Treasury Department, an independent department of the commonwealth's government. The treasurer is elected every four years. Treasurers are limited to two consecutive terms. Pennsy ...

in January 2020, winning the Republican nomination unopposed in June. Garrity charged that Torsella was mainly interested in the office to boost his profile and run for higher office, such as the state's governorship. She criticized Torsella's management of the office and alleged a lack of transparency, citing a D− rating given by the

Public Interest Research Group Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs) are a federation of U.S. and Canadian non-profit organizations that employ grassroots organizing and direct advocacy on issues such as consumer protection, public health and transportation. The PIRGs are cl ...

in 2019. On November 10, 2020, a week after election day, Torsella called Garrity to concede the race, with Garrity leading by 78,000 votes at the time of his concession. It was the first time a Republican had unseated an incumbent Democrat for a statewide office in Pennsylvania since

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

Tenure

In May 2021, Garrity joined a critical letter sent by several Republican state treasurers to the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

, charging that the administration was inappropriately encouraging financial institutions to stop supporting fossil fuels. The letter said that the government should not "bully corporations into curtailing legal activities," but it also threatened that the state governments represented by the signatory officials may divest their state funds from any banks that no longer support fossil fuel projects. Garrity's participation in this letter was criticized by an editorial in the '' Hazelton Standard-Speaker''. In honor of National College Savings Day in 2021, Garrity had the Pennsylvania Treasury offer $100 to families that opened 529 college savings plans. In 2021, in her ex-officio capacity on the board of the Pennsylvania Public School Employees’ Retirement System, Garrity joined a group of "dissident" board members opposing the contemporary management of the pension fund's investments, arguing instead that the pension fund should invest in low-fee, public investments. After failing to dismiss the fund's managers, the dissident group of board members, including Garrity's predecessor Joe Torsella, successfully blocked an investment strategy proposed by the fund managers in September 2021. In 2022, Garrity opposed Pennsylvania governor

Tom Wolf Thomas Westerman Wolf (born November 17, 1948) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 47th governor of Pennsylvania from 2015 to 2023. He previously served as chairman and CEO of his business, The Wolf Organization, and l ...

's proposal to award state employees with five days vacation from work if they got

vaccinated A vaccine is a biological Dosage form, preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease, infectious or cancer, malignant disease. The safety and effectiveness of vaccines has been widely studied and verifi ...

for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

, claiming that it would cost the state government 100 million dollars. The Wolf administration claimed that Garrity's cost estimate was seriously exaggerated. Pennsylvania Secretary of Administration Michael Newsome, whose position reports to the governor, estimated the cost of the vacation incentives to be $45 million. On May 6, 2022, Garrity appeared at a rally with former president Trump and 2022 U.S. Senate candidate

Mehmet Oz Mehmet Cengiz Oz ( ; ; born June 11, 1960), also known as Dr. Oz (), is an American television presenter, physician, author, educator and government official serving as the 17th administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services sinc ...

in Greensburg, at which she endorsed Trump's false claim that he won the 2020 presidential election. On March 15, 2023, Garrity joined Pennsylvania Senator John DiSanto in introducing legislation that will automatically return unclaimed property to Pennsylvania residents. Pennsylvania Money Match will authorize Treasury to automatically return single-owner property for living individuals valued up to $5,000 to the rightful owner after a thorough identification and verification process. In October 2023, Garrity announced that she had purchased $20 million in

Israel Bonds Israel Bonds, the commonly known name of Development Corporation for Israel (DCI), is the U.S. underwriter of debt securities issued by the State of Israel. DCI is headquartered in New York City and is a broker-dealer and member of the Financial ...

for the state's investment portfolio, bringing Pennsylvania's investment in Israel Bonds to a total of $56 million.

References

External links

Government website

Campaign website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Garrity, Stacy Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania alumni Candidates in the 2019 United States elections Living people Military personnel from Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Republicans People from Bradford County, Pennsylvania State treasurers of Pennsylvania University of Pennsylvania alumni Women in Pennsylvania politics 21st-century American women politicians 21st-century Pennsylvania politicians Year of birth missing (living people)