Pennsylvania candidate who called out Trump lies goes crawling back to MAGA

In Pennsylvania, Republican Jason Richey — who's running for lieutenant governor on the ticket headed by GOP gubernatorial nominee Stacey Garrity — has had a rollercoaster relationship with President Donald Trump. Richey has promoted Trump's conspiracy theories at times, distanced himself from them other times. Journalist Brendan Hartnett details that on-again/off-again relationship in a scathing article for the conservative website The Bulwark, describing it as a prime example of how "warped" Republicans can be when they're "kowtowing to Donald Trump."

Hartnett explains, "One of the top GOP candidates in Pennsylvania was an avid 2020 election denier before he abruptly turned on Donald Trump — only to flip back to MAGA as he sought statewide office this cycle … In a remarkable case of political flimflammery, Richey has had several incredible conversions about Trump and whether he believes the 2020 election was actually stolen, as an analysis by The Bulwark of his past statements reveals."

According to Hartnett, Richey "once regularly cast doubt on the 2020 election, promoting conspiracy theories about Democrats stealing elections."

"He specifically highlighted how important it would be for Republicans to win the governor's mansion in 2022 in order to control the office of the secretary of the commonwealth — a gubernatorial appointee tasked with certifying presidential election results," Hartnett recalls. "Five weeks after Trump sicced a mob on the Capitol on January 6th, Richey leaned into the stolen election conspiracy, posting on Facebook that Pennsylvania 'has work to do to ensure election integrity. I will lead on election integrity.'"

Hartnett continues, "Soon after, he launched his 2022 campaign for governor. He linked his decision to run to Donald Trump's Big Lie about the previous election, saying he 'rose up after the election in November 2020,' which had 'numerous problems associated with it.' Richey made election integrity a central issue of his campaign. At a January 2022 Berks County Patriots event headlined by Tom Homan, Trump's former acting ICE head and future border czar, Richey said that 'in November 2020, we had an election that was taken from us.'"

Richey, according to Hartnett, "continued to dog-whistle about election conspiracies until he suspended his campaign for governor in March 2022."

"But then Richey changed his mind," Richey notes. "After the November 2022 election, Richey turned against Trump. In a December 2022 interview, Richey conceded that there was no evidence whatsoever that the 2020 election was rigged."

Richey, after that flip-flop, said, "We cannot be doing this election denial anymore. That's gotta go … Trump's still talking about the 2020 election. That's over. Nobody wants to hear about that anymore … He's a narcissist that has problems accepting that he lost. And so, he can't get over that in his own head, and it's just killing him "

But according to Hartnett, Richey flip-flopped again when, in February 2025, he became chairman of the Allegheny County Republican Party in Western Pennsylvania — telling Trump, in an open letter, "You have done an excellent job in bringing billions in foreign investment to the United States in only the first 100 days of your term. Your business savvy has led to more foreign investment in this country than any other President in history."

Hartnett observes, "Inevitably, Richey has also returned to flirting with election conspiracies during his current campaign for lieutenant governor … If Trump doesn't stick his neck out and offer financial support to Garrity and Richey — despite Richey's colorful criticism of the president — it could be a death sentence for the floundering campaign that has been significantly outraised by Shapiro. In the meantime, if you want to see a portrait of the Republican Party, warped and kowtowing to Donald Trump and his conspiratorial imagination, look no further than Jason Richey."