'I just worked, worked, worked.' Harrison’s Erin McClelland scores upset in Pa. treasurer primary

Outspent and facing an opponent who had won a slew of major endorsements, Erin McClelland engineered the biggest upset in Pennsylvania during Tuesday’s primary, securing the Democratic nomination for state treasurer.

McClelland, 49, of Harrison said her public speaking skills, the missteps of her Democratic opponent and her travel across the state to interact with voters helped catapult her to victory.

“I just worked, worked, worked,” she said in an interview this week with TribLive. “I outworked my opponent. I went everywhere. There were a ton of rooms where I was the only candidate speaking.”

McClelland defeated Erie state Rep. Ryan Bizzarro, 54%-46%, with nearly all votes counted. She had received over 83,000 more votes as of Thursday afternoon.

She said most Pennsylvanians don’t even realize the state has an elected treasurer, and in a lower-profile contest, it’s nearly impossible to get enough name recognition to break through to voters.

McClelland said she accepted every candidate forum request from local Democratic and political groups. She leaned on her volunteer army, which she called small but mighty, to knock on doors and help raise her profile.

Creating opportunity

McClelland, a substance abuse counselor, runs a consulting firm that assists local governments, including Allegheny County’s Human Services Division. She is a somewhat familiar face in regional politics, having run unsuccessfully three times for Congress and briefly last year for Allegheny County executive before dropping out.

She said her work on the ground this year helped overcome the large lead built up by her Democratic opponent.

Bizzarro outspent McClelland by a massive margin and received nearly every major endorsement a statewide Democrat can get, including from former Democratic state Treasurer Joe Torsella, major labor unions, U.S. Sen. Bob Casey and the state Democratic Party.

Bizzarro spent more than $348,000 this year, as of April 8, according to campaign finance reports, while McClelland spent about $23,000.

She largely self-funded her campaign with a $100,000 loan.

She said all the rhetorical and financial support Bizzarro received actually backfired on him.

“I think because my opponent was seen as inevitable among many in political circles, there was not a lot of work on his behalf, and it created an opportunity for us,” McClelland said.

Allegheny County Councilwoman at-large Bethany Hallam supported McClelland’s campaign and said the candidate’s public speaking skills provided a boost.

“She got people excited about voting for this office,” said Hallam, who admitted that many voters are usually unaware of the state treasurer’s role. “She is the real deal. She stands by her ideals, even when it has been to her detriment.”

The Office of the State Treasurer, with 300 employees, is the custodian of more than $150 billion. It receives, deposits and invests public funds.

Hallam first met McClelland at an event in 2014 during McClelland’s first congressional run.

“I heard her speak, and I was not involved in politics at all at the time, and I was wowed,” said Hallam, who praised McClelland for bringing issues to the Allegheny Valley that are often overlooked.

Women voting for women

McClelland acknowledged some built-in advantages. She said the “stars aligned” for her campaign.

Pennsylvania primary elections list the home county of candidates, and McClelland said it helped her that being from Allegheny County, she was from a much bigger population center than Bizzarro.

She added that other factors helped, such as being a woman candidate in a Democratic primary, especially when running for a relatively obscure seat.

“About 60% of our voters are women,” McClelland said. “And they want to vote for women.”

Alison Dagnes, a political science professor at Shippensburg University in central Pennsylvania, recently said polarizing political factors such as abortion restrictions have made women candidates more appealing to the Democratic electorate.

“The conventional wisdom is that when reproductive rights are on the ballot, women do better,” Dagnes said. “While abortion isn’t literally an issue in Pennsylvania, it’s in the zeitgeist nationally.”

Missteps

McClelland said that Bizzarro’s campaign made several missteps.

She claimed he dodged invitations to candidate forums. And she criticized what she called his “abrasive” social media posts. Bizzarro has an active account on X, formerly known as Twitter, and replied to several critics on the platform throughout the campaign.

“When they see that kind of highly abrasive behavior coming from a public official, they start to tell each other about it, and it starts to spread,” McClelland said. “You couldn’t go anywhere in the state without people bringing that up.”

Bizzarro’s campaign rejected that notion. In a statement, the campaign said McClelland was being “petty and divisive” and should be working to solidify Democratic support.

“To think that Twitter played a role in a race with around 1 million voters is silly, and Ryan attended countless forums both in person and via Zoom,” the campaign said.

‘Perennial candidate’

McClelland had barbs not just for her primary opponent but for her Republican rival as well.

She said both Bizzarro and Treasurer Stacy Garrity, the Republican incumbent, are focused too much on personal attacks and too little on policy.

In a statement Tuesday, the Garrity campaign criticized McClelland and claimed she lacked the necessary experience for the job, calling her a “perennial candidate in search of a spot on the public payroll.”

McClelland defended her experience running her consulting businesses and threw Garrity’s attack back at her.

“What was her experience before running?” McClelland said, noting that Garrity also ran unsuccessfully for Congress before seeking the treasurer post.

Garrity, an Army veteran from Bradford County, served as vice president for government affairs for chemical supplier Global Tungsten & Powders Corp. before being elected treasurer in 2020.

Garrity sought the Republican nomination for a central Pennsylvania congressional seat during a 2019 special election but was defeated during a GOP party convention.

Hallam brushed aside the criticism about McClelland’s various attempts to seek elected office. Hallam said the Democratic Party was “practically begging” candidates to run in the former 12th Congressional District, which was a Republican-heavy district that was redrawn after a successful lawsuit revealed gerrymandering.

Shareholder pressure

McClelland said her policy stances have resonated with voters. She supports divesting the state’s investments from Israeli bonds because of the country’s recent credit downgrades due to its war with Hamas. She also opposed the recently proposed “Keystone Saves” retirement program because she fears it could be prone to fraud.

McClelland wants the treasurer’s office to resurrect the strategy of using the state’s hefty investments to pressure large corporations to act ethically, particularly pharmaceutical companies.

“Especially because of the opiate epidemic, I want to see these drug manufacturers acting more responsible than they are now,” McClelland said.

This shareholder-pressure strategy was championed by Torsella, the Democratic treasurer from 2016-20.

McClelland said she is confident she will prevail in November. She said too many campaigns are telling voters the country is in disarray — even while those politicians are in charge.

“We need to tell (voters) what is next and why we believe we need to be elected so we can upend the status quo,” she said.

Hallam said she expects Democrats to unite behind McClelland now that the primary is over.

Congratulations to @MalcolmKenyatta, @DePasqualePA, and @ErinforPA on their hard-fought victories.

Our ticket is strong here in Pennsylvania. I look forward to campaigning with Malcolm, Eugene, and Erin to win together in November.

— Bob Casey Jr. (@Bob_Casey) April 25, 2024

Democratic U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, who endorsed Bizzarro in the primary, congratulated McClelland and other Democratic row office nominees Thursday for their victories.

“Our ticket is strong here in Pennsylvania,” Casey posted on X.