Pennsylvania Governor 2026: the ads, and who's paying for them
Josh Shapiro (Democrat), Stacy Garrity (Republican) and Ken Krawchuk (Libertarian) are the candidates for governor of Pennsylvania in the November 3, 2026 general election. Josh Shapiro is the incumbent. Semblen has analyzed 75 ads in this race; 11 used at least one manipulation technique, most often glittering generalities and loaded language.
Josh Shapiro (DEM, incumbent), Stacy Garrity (REP), Ken Krawchuk (LIB).
On the ballot as listed by Ballotpedia. 75 ads analyzed, 11 with at least one technique in the copy.
Newest first. The paid-for-by line is the advertiser's own filing. Updated 2026-10-08.
$621,800–764,029 on all ads, $98,700–126,382 on flagged ads · Meta reports ranges; these are the sums of their ends
Example
“make your dreams come true” — Glittering Generalities, paid for by Josh Shapiro
· the flagged ad with the highest reported spend that shows the most common technique
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Leaving out the softer ones (loaded language, glittering generalities, slogans, exaggeration, repetition): 15% of ads.
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Money in this race
Candidates for governor report their fundraising to Pennsylvania's state campaign-finance office, not the FEC. This page doesn't cover those reports yet, so it shows no money figures.
The ads
75 ads, newest first.
Showing the 1 ad paid for by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATION. Show all 75 ads
Paid for by COMMONWEALTH FOUNDATIONfrom 2026-09-282 variantsspend $900–1,09814,000–19,998 impressions
Pennsylvania families have already lived through government overreach: closed schools, shuttered businesses, and sweeping mandates.
Now, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Department of Health has proposed new regulations that would expand government power over Pennsylvania families. After widespread public opposition, the administration withdrew the proposal—but has already said it plans to submit a new version.
Pennsylvanians must send a clear message to Governor Shapiro: stand down. Do not bring back rules that threaten our rights and freedoms.
Loaded Language: The phrase 'government overreach' is an emotionally charged political term used to frame pandemic-era policies negatively rather than neutrally — for example: 'government overreach'
Appeal to Fear: The enumeration of harms (closed schools, shuttered businesses, sweeping mandates) is designed to evoke anxiety about government power and prime the audience to fear its recurrence — for example: 'closed schools, shuttered businesses, and sweeping mandates'
Appeal to Prejudice: The call to 'Pennsylvanians' as a unified in-group frames the issue as a collective identity matter, implying all Pennsylvanians share one position — for example: Pennsylvanians must send a clear message
False Urgency: The imperative 'must send a clear message' and the command 'stand down' create artificial urgency demanding immediate collective action — for example: must send a clear message to Governor Shapiro: stand down
Glittering Generalities: 'Rights and freedoms' are invoked as vague emotionally positive concepts without specifying which rights or freedoms are at stake — for example: threaten our rights and freedoms
Loaded Language
Appeal to Fear
Appeal to Prejudice
False Urgency
Glittering Generalities
Looks up the ad's factual claims in fact-checkers, primary sources and wire reporting. Takes up to a minute.
An email when new ads come in from either side or the outside groups: the techniques, the words doing the work, and who paid. And each debate's analysis the morning after. One-click unsubscribe.
An ad is on this page because its own "Paid for by" line is a campaign in this race; or it ran mostly in PA and names a nominee for governor — unless its sponsor is a campaign for some other office (a U.S. Senate or House campaign included), or it also names PA's Senate nominees, in which case it is on the Senate race's page. Ads from outside groups appear alongside the campaigns' own.
The candidates are the ones certified for the November ballot, from the source linked at the top. Governors are state offices, so there are no FEC filings behind this page: no money figures, and outside groups are placed on a side only when they are a campaign or a party committee.
Campaigns run one text as many separate ads. Identical text from the same sponsor is one card here, marked with its number of variants.
A technique is a specific manipulative move in the wording, found by our model and explained in one line. It is not a claim that the ad is false.
Claims are checked when a reader asks: press "Check this ad's claims" on a card. The check runs once and its result is shown to everyone afterwards. The ten ads with the most money behind them in each race are checked ahead of time.
Claim verdicts say what the cited sources say. A verdict that an ad is wrong or misleading is shown only when it cites an established fact-checker or an institutional record — Congress, a federal agency, a court — and its confidence is not low; a weaker one is not shown at all. Each verdict shows what it rests on and how confident it is. If we got one wrong, press Disagree: a verdict that readers dispute and no one defends comes down.
Video ads come from the campaigns' own YouTube channels; the transcript is analyzed. Meta ads are analyzed on their text; their video and images are not, yet.
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