Updated May 20, 2026 at 12:59 AM EDT
Jason Richey, a Pittsburgh-area attorney and Allegheny County GOP chairman, will be the Republican Party's candidate for lieutenant governor this fall. Richey on Tuesday defeated John Ventre, a retired UPS executive.
Richey was leading Ventre by nearly 30 percentage points, with about 33% of the vote remaining, when The Associated Press called the race Tuesday night.
" I'm incredibly humbled. I'm a kid that comes from Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, a steel town that was dying when I grew up, and I come from very humble beginnings," Richey told WESA after the race was called. "And to get here, where I'm the elected standard-bearer for lieutenant governor for the Republican Party, is quite a privilege, and I'm gonna work my tail off to make sure that we turn around Pennsylvania."
Richey was the preferred candidate of Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Republican nominee for governor. Garrity had warned that the party's effort to unseat Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro could be derailed before it truly began unless voters confirmed her choice of running mate.
In Pennsylvania, each party's nominee for lieutenant governor is selected independently by voters in the primary. While Lt. Gov. Austin Davis' place as Shapiro's running mate is assured, the GOP ballot pitted Richey against Ventre, of Westmoreland County.
Both Richey and Ventre have run for governor before, but that may be where the resemblances end.
Ventre, who has also mounted failed bids for county commissioner, is a political outsider who has positioned himself as a foe of political elites, including those in his own party. Borrowing from the MAGA playbook of Donald Trump, he called for a Department of State Efficiency modeled after Elon Musk's abortive Department of Government Efficiency, and he referred to Richey as a RINO — Republican in Name Only.
He also sometimes seemed at odds with the candidate he hopes to run alongside, having previously told WESA, "I already have some different views than Stacy … and I plan to influence her to change her plans and objectives."
Richey, by contrast, said, "When Stacy Garrity asked me to join her ticket, she promised we'd be a true governing team." And he's proven himself to be a team player: He ended his 2022 gubernatorial bid before the Republican primary to thin out the ranks in a crowded field of candidates, and as RCAC chair, he has been involved in party-building efforts.
He's been endorsed by a broad swath of party leaders, and he appears more than willing to bring the fight to Shapiro: During a joint appearance with Garrity Monday night at the Green Tree GOP committee offices where he presides as chair, Richey attacked Shapiro on everything from the governor's height to his ambitions for higher office.
But the primary loomed as his first challenge, and Republican concerns about Ventre had become increasingly public, especially after a random lottery assigned Ventre the top place on the ballot over Richey. Such factors can weigh more heavily in races that don't get much attention.
Last week, the Garrity campaign recently called out Ventre for a graphic that they said misleadingly depicted him as her choice in running mate. Ventre's response was to suggest that if Garrity didn't like the prospect of his victory, she could "kiss my ass in Macy's front window."
During their Monday-night stop in Pittsburgh, neither Garrity nor Richey used Ventre's name. But Garrity warned that "the other person" was a "bad, bad guy," and alluded to controversial remarks Ventre reportedly made about race on social media as a member of a national network of UFO researchers.
If voters picked Ventre, she said, "we would [have to] explain between now and the general why we are not a party of racists."
Added Richey: "If somehow he were to upset me tomorrow, Stacy's done and we will lose the legislature. Because we're going to have to explain, 'There go those crazy Republicans again. Look at this goofball that they elected.'"
Lieutenant governors are elected to assume the duties of leading the state if the governor dies, steps down or otherwise is unable to serve. The lieutenant governor also presides over the state Senate and can cast deciding votes in the case of a tie vote. The role also entails serving on the state's Board of Pardons and its Emergency Management Council.
The job will pay $213,248 this year.
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