Founding The party was founded on November 27, 1854, in
Towanda, Pennsylvania, by former Congressman
David Wilmot. Wilmot invited political leaders and a small group of friends to the organization's first meeting, which took place in his home. Notable attendees included U.S. Senator
Simon Cameron, Congressman
Thaddeus Stevens, Colonel
Alexander McClure, and future governor
Andrew Curtin. Wilmot convinced the group to form local Republican clubs in their home counties. On September 5, 1855, at the inaugural state convention held in
Pittsburgh, Wilmot became the first party chairman. Following the
1856 election, Pennsylvania Republicans reorganized as the People's Party. The change in name helped to welcome former
Know Nothings who had supported
Millard Fillmore over the Republican presidential candidate,
John C. Frémont. The People's Party sent delegates to the
1860 Republican National Convention, where they voted for Simon Cameron on the first ballot. During the
Civil War, leaders in the People's Party joined
War Democrats to organize the
Union Party. After 1868, the party was known as the National Union Republican, or simply Republican. In 1959, chairman
George I. Bloom made the Republican Party a statewide organization. He had the headquarters located in Harrisburg, where it remains to this day. Quay in particular was one of the dominant political figures of his era, as he served as chairman of the
Republican National Committee and helped place
Theodore Roosevelt on the 1900 Republican ticket. Republican dominance was ended by the growing influence of labor and urbanization, and the implementation of the
New Deal. However, even after the New Deal, Republicans remained competitive in the state.
Governorship During the period from the Civil War until the start of the
Great Depression, Republican gubernatorial administrations outnumbered Democratic administrations by a margin of sixteen to two. The first Republican governor was elected in
1860, and there was a Republican governor until
1882. The governorship alternated between Republican and Democratic every term until
1894. From 1894 until 1934, Republicans held an unbroken grip on the governor's office. Democrat
George Howard Earle III held the governorship for one term, from 1935 to 1939, after which Republicans held the governorship until the
1954 election of state senator
George M. Leader. Democrats continued to hold the governorship into 1963, following the
1958 election of Pittsburgh mayor
David L. Lawrence, who succeeded Leader. Republicans
Bill Scranton and
Ray Shafer followed Lawrence. In 1968, state law was changed to allow governors to run for a second consecutive four-year term. However, in the
1970 election, Democrat
Milton Shapp defeated Shafer's lieutenant governor,
Ray Broderick. Shapp was reelected over Republican nominee
Drew Lewis in
1974.
Recent election history Presidential After Democratic president
Jimmy Carter's victory in
1976, Pennsylvania was won by the Republican nominee in three consecutive elections:
Ronald Reagan in
1980 and
1984, and
George H. W. Bush in
1988. Corbett ran for reelection to a second term in
2014, but was defeated by Democrat
Tom Wolf. This marked the first time an incumbent Republican governor running for reelection in Pennsylvania lost. Corbett is the last Republican to hold the office of governor. In
2016, incumbent Republican senator Pat Toomey won reelection to a second term, defeating Democratic challenger
Katie McGinty. After Toomey announced in 2020 that he would retire and not seek a third term, Republicans lost the seat to Democrat
John Fetterman, who defeated Republican nominee
Mehmet Oz in the
2022 general election. Also in 2022, Democrats flipped the State House, while Republicans maintained the majority in the State Senate, which the party has held since 1994. ==Current elected officials==