Shapiro Finally Agrees to Debate Garrity

After months of pressure from Republican challenger Stacy Garrity, Gov. Josh Shapiro has agreed to take the debate stage.

Pennsylvania voters will get their first televised gubernatorial debate since 2018 on October 7 at 8 p.m., when Shapiro and Garrity meet at the ABC27 studio in Harrisburg. Longtime anchor Dennis Owens will moderate.

The debate will air statewide across Nexstar's Pennsylvania stations in Harrisburg, Philadelphia, Johnstown/Altoona/State College, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and Erie. It will also be streamed online through smart-TV apps and YouTube.

For Garrity, getting Shapiro in front of the cameras has been a campaign priority.

The Republican state treasurer and former Army Reserve colonel has repeatedly challenged Shapiro to debate, calling in June for seven debates across Pennsylvania.

Now she has one.

“Game on,” Garrity spokesman Matthew Beynon said after the agreement was announced.

Garrity has also accepted invitations for debates hosted by KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. Shapiro, however, has not committed to either event.

That means the October 7 debate currently stands as the only agreed-upon meeting between the two candidates.

That could change. But for now, a race that Garrity has tried to turn into a referendum on Shapiro's record will get just one guaranteed prime-time matchup.

The stakes are particularly notable given what happened in 2022. Shapiro and Republican nominee Doug Mastriano never faced each other in a general-election debate, leaving Pennsylvania voters without a traditional televised showdown between the candidates.

This time, they will get one.

The question is whether it will matter.

Shapiro enters the contest with a substantial lead over Garrity, making the debate one of the Republican challenger's clearest opportunities to change the conversation, put the governor on the defensive and introduce herself to voters who may not be closely following the race.

Seven debates may have been Garrity's goal.

For now, she gets one.

And on October 7, she'll have one night to make it count.