U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) leaves a closed-door House Republican meeting at the U.S. Capitol on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District) didn’t say whether he’s going to throw his hat into the ring for Pennsylvania governor during a Tuesday interview, but he said a lot of things that sound like someone considering a run.
During an interview with WPHT-AM, Meuser said Pennsylvania needs leadership like President-elect Donald Trump, and that Pennsylvanians should be “tired” of “being in the second tier, if not third tier, of states.”
“Tired of hearing about how great Florida and Texas and Georgia and the Carolinas and Tennessee and Utah and Indiana are at attracting businesses and attracting young people,” he told host Dom Giordano. “We need to turn this around.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer was first to report that Meuser is considering a run for Pennsylvania’s top elected office. He told the paper in a story published this week that “I’m doing some due diligence, and I have been receiving some encouragement.”
During Tuesday’s interview, Meuser claimed that former Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat who served two terms in office, set the state back. He accused Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro of also not moving the state in the right direction.
“But where’s the vision? Where’s the plan, where’s the execution,” Meuser said of Shapiro. “I mean, everything I see is putting out fires, is transactional, and a lot of talk and no action.”
The Shapiro campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Meuser was first elected to Congress in 2018 and cruised to another term last month. The conservative 9th Congressional District spans a large area that includes parts of central Pennsylvania and northeast Pennsylvania. Meuser was a vocal ally for Trump during the 2024 election, serving on the campaign’s Pennsylvania leadership team.
Prior to winning a seat in the U.S. House, Meuser served as the secretary for the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue under then-Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican.
“I did work in the Corbett administration. I saw the positives and I saw the negatives. I saw what we were able to do with the Department of Revenue,” Meuser said, adding that state agencies “need to work for Pennsylvanians.”
He cited Indiana and Florida as examples of states Pennsylvania could emulate.
Meuser accused Shapiro of being more “in line with the Kamala Harris vision of things.”
This is not the first time that Meuser has floated a bid for statewide office in Pennsylvania. In 2017, Meuser considered a run for lieutenant governor and in 2021 he expressed interest in potentially running for governor, but never joined the race. The GOP nominee in 2022 was 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 is being mentioned as a potential candidate for governor in 2026. Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who just won a second term by the widest margin of the statewide candidates in Pennsylvania this cycle, has also been discussed as a potential challenger to Shapiro in his bid for a second term.
Shapiro has won three statewide races in Pennsylvania. He’s held a steady positive approval rating since being sworn into the governor’s office and has been mentioned as a potential candidate for president in 2028.