U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) didn’t say in an interview Tuesday whether he was going to throw his hat into the ring for Pennsylvania’s governor, but many of his comments sounded like someone was considering a run.
During an interview with WPHT-AMMeuser said Pennsylvania needs leadership like President-elect Donald Trump and that Pennsylvanians should be “tired” of “being in second, if not third, tier states.”
“I’m tired of hearing about how great Florida, Texas, Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Utah and Indiana are at attracting businesses and young people,” he told host Dom Giordano. “We have to turn this around.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer. first reported that Meuser is considering running for Pennsylvania’s highest elected office. In an article published this week, he told the newspaper that “I am doing my due diligence and receiving some encouragement.”
During Tuesday’s interview, Meuser claimed that former Gov. Tom Wolf, a two-term Democrat, took the state back. He also accused Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of failing to lead the state in the right direction.
“But where is the vision? Where is the plan, where is the execution,” Meuser said of Shapiro. “I mean, all I see is fires being put out, transactions, a lot of talk and no action.”
Shapiro’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meuser was first elected to Congress in 2018 and was re-elected last month. The conservative 9th Congressional District covers a vast area covering parts of central and northeastern Pennsylvania. Meuser was a vocal ally of Trump during the 2024 election, serving on the campaign Pennsylvania Leadership Team.
Before winning a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Meuser served as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue under then-Gov. Tom Corbett, Republican.
“I worked in the Corbett administration. I’ve seen positives and I’ve seen negatives. I saw what we were able to do with the Treasury Department,” Meuser said, adding that state agencies “have to work for the people of Pennsylvania.”
He cited Indiana and Florida as examples of states Pennsylvania could emulate.
Meuser accused Shapiro of being more “in line with Kamala Harris’s vision of things.”
This isn’t the first time Meuser has run for statewide office in Pennsylvania. In 2017 Meuser considered running for lieutenant governor and in 2021 he has expressed interest in potentially running for governorbut he never joined the race. The 2022 Republican Party candidate is state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin), who lost to Shapiro in the general election by double digits.
Meuser isn’t the only Republican whose name has been mentioned as a potential candidate for governor in 2026. Treasurer Stacy Garritywho had just won a second term this cycle by the widest margin of any statewide candidate in Pennsylvania, has also been discussed as a potential rival to Shapiro in his bid for a second term.
Shapiro won three statewide races in Pennsylvania. Since being sworn in as governor, he has enjoyed consistent positive support and has been cited as: potential candidate for president in 2028.
