James Moore

Independent Write-In Candidate for PA Governor | Father | Business Founder | Fighting for lower costs, safer communities & a PA that belongs to the people.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I don’t disagree that some questionable stuff has come out since Election Day, and if something legitimate turns up it absolutely should be looked at. But with a loss that large, I have a hard time seeing any of it changing the basic outcome.

My bigger issue is the lack of participation overall. Pennsylvania has a little over 9 million registered voters and only around 5.2 million actually cast ballots. That means roughly four out of every ten registered voters still stayed home.

And on the Republican side, the bigger problem to me was never just voters. It was the party itself. The GOP practically coronated Garrity early, cleared the field around her, and then never really gave her the kind of financial backing you would expect for a serious statewide race against someone sitting on Shapiro’s kind of war chest.

That is why I kept calling her a sacrificial lamb. I don’t know that anybody in GOP leadership ever sat in a room and literally said that, but from the outside it sure looked like they knew what they were up against and decided their money and attention were better spent elsewhere. Shapiro had tens of millions, was on the air early and constantly, and Democrats had the money and organization to control the narrative whenever he took a hit.

Meanwhile, Republicans were putting a lot of resources into legislative and congressional races, and we saw how uneven that turned out too. To me, that says a lot more about what happened than blaming Independents or pretending a few questionable post-election reports somehow explain a 22-point beating.

I also don’t buy the idea that this election automatically proves Pennsylvania suddenly embraced everything coming from the left. Midterms can be reactionary as hell, especially when people are frustrated with whoever is in power nationally. One election tells you what voters did on that day. It does not automatically prove some permanent ideological shift.

We’ll see what holds and what doesn’t by 2028. But one thing is pretty clear right now: the PA GOP has a lot more to answer for than the people who voted outside the two-party box.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Now that the numbers are basically in, I think it is time to finally put the whole “you split the vote” excuse to bed.

Stacy Garrity and Jason Richey did not lose this race because of me, Ken Krawchuk, or anybody else running outside the two major parties. They lost by roughly 22 points and more than a million votes. Even if every Libertarian vote had gone straight to Garrity, it would not have come remotely close to changing the result.

And I am not sitting here pretending my own vote total was anything significant. It wasn’t, and honestly I expected that this time around. I was an Independent write-in candidate with almost no money, no party machine, very limited statewide name recognition, and practically no traditional media coverage. I knew exactly what I was walking into.

For me, this was about putting myself out there, putting actual ideas and reforms in front of people, learning from the process, and starting something that can grow. You do not build an Independent movement from nothing and suddenly pull a million votes in your first shot. I never expected that, and I am not going to bullshit people now and pretend otherwise.

But that is also why the spoiler excuse looks even more ridiculous after seeing the actual results. My votes were not Garrity’s votes. Krawchuk’s votes were not Garrity’s votes. Independent voters do not belong to Republicans, and they do not belong to Democrats either.

If Republicans want to know why they lost, maybe they should start looking inside their own damn party.

The PA GOP practically coronated Garrity more than a year before the general election. They gave her an unprecedentedly early endorsement specifically to clear the primary field, while other possible candidates were still being discussed. Mastriano was openly considering another run and complained at the time that party insiders were trying to take the choice away from Republican primary voters. Eventually he stayed out, Garrity ran unopposed, and the party got exactly the candidate it wanted.

Then after clearing the field for her, much of the big outside financial support everyone expected never really showed up. Even Garrity herself said after the election that there could have been more money, more advertising, and more support.

So maybe that is where Republicans should start their postmortem instead of blaming Independents.

They picked their candidate early. They cleared the field around her. They avoided a real primary fight. They spent months telling everyone she was the candidate who could do better than Mastriano, and then she went out and lost by a larger percentage margin than he did.

That is not my fault. That is not Krawchuk’s fault. That is not the fault of voters who refused to fall in line. That is a political party that needs to take a hard look in the mirror and ask what the hell went wrong.

I know my vote total was negligible this time around. I own that completely. What I will not own is somebody else’s million-vote loss just because I had the nerve to put my name out there and give people another choice.

The spoiler excuse was weak before Election Day. After this result, it is just bullshit.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Yes, I believe Pennsylvania could be one of the places where this really starts. This is the Commonwealth where the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution were debated and signed, and where the Liberty Bell became one of the strongest symbols of American freedom. It would be pretty damn fitting if Pennsylvania became the place that finally started cracking the two-party grip on this country too.

And I don’t mean replacing one extreme with another. I don’t want a movement that just becomes another version of the DSA on the left or gets swallowed up by the extreme, personality-driven parts of the right. That just gives us a third team screaming at the other two.

What I want to see is something genuinely independent, where people can disagree on issues, argue their positions, and still work together without being thrown out because they failed some ideological purity test. Open primaries, fair ballot access, more competition, and candidates who actually have to earn votes instead of assuming a party label guarantees them.

Pennsylvania helped give birth to this Republic. Maybe it can help remind the country what political independence is supposed to look like too.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

No, not really since the election. During the campaign though, I got hit with the “you’re splitting the vote” thing so often that it honestly became a running joke between me and my son.

I just figured now that the numbers are basically in, it was worth pointing out what I had been saying for months anyway. Garrity was in trouble pretty much from the start, and blaming Independents or third-party voters was never going to explain away a loss anywhere near this size.

It’s kind of the same thing with the people who insist everything I write must be AI because apparently they can “just tell.” That gets fucking old too. Yes, I’ve used AI here and there to trim something down because I have a tendency to ramble, and yeah, I use it for graphics and memes because my artistic ability is somewhere around stick figures and crooked circles....lol. But the thoughts, opinions, arguments, and writing are mine.

I think part of the problem is people have gotten so used to memes, TikToks, headlines, and 200-character blurbs that the second somebody writes a few actual paragraphs, they assume a computer had to do it.

Apparently reading has become suspicious behavior now.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

And that response tells me all I need to know about whether this conversation is worth continuing.

You completely ignored the actual point about what happens when government more than doubles the wage floor and went straight to “shitty sweatshop.” That isn’t an argument, it’s just an insult wrapped around a talking point.

Small businesses, startups, nonprofits, restaurants, and entrepreneurs do not all have endless money sitting around. Some operate on razor-thin margins, especially when they’re just getting started. Pretending every business can absorb whatever labor cost Harrisburg decides to throw at them is exactly the kind of thinking I’m talking about.

And considering you’re sitting in California lecturing people about what Pennsylvania businesses should be able to afford, I’m not sure you’re in the best position to tell people here how their numbers should work.

If your answer to every concern is “then you shouldn’t be in business,” there really isn’t much left to discuss.

Take care.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Not crying over here, I’m perfectly fine. But if a factual post about the downside of more than doubling the minimum wage gets you this worked up, then maybe you need to ask yourself why the facts bother you so much.

The question is still the same, and nobody ever seems to want to answer it. Who takes care of the small businesses that can’t absorb that kind of increase? Who helps the employees whose hours get slashed, who get laid off, or who never get hired because the cost no longer makes sense?

It’s real easy to scream “raise it to $15” and act like that makes you compassionate. It’s a hell of a lot harder to explain what happens when the business closes, the job disappears, or prices get pushed even higher.

That’s the part people like to keep skipping over because slogans are easier than consequences.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Today is Veterans Day.

A day to honor every man and woman who has worn the uniform and served this country.

Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, marking the end of fighting in World War I on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918. It was later renamed Veterans Day so we could honor all American veterans, not just those who served in World War I.

Today is about recognizing the people who stepped forward, served, sacrificed time away from family, accepted risks most of us never will, and carried responsibilities that deserve respect long after the uniform comes off.

Some served in combat. Some served in support roles. Some served during war. Some served during peace. Every role mattered.

So today, take a moment to thank a veteran. Not because it is political. Not because it is expected. Just because they served.

To every veteran who answered the call, wore the uniform, came home, and carried on: Thank you for your service.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I doubt you’d know AI if a data center popped up next door to you, but keep claiming what you have to if it helps with the pain.

And why the hell would I join a party I don’t believe in just because you think that is the “only way to win”? That mentality is exactly part of the problem.

Garrity just lost by more than a million raw votes as of now and by a larger percentage margin than Mastriano did in 2022. So please explain how the votes I earned as an Independent somehow caused this disaster for the GOP.

And if you want to criticize people for supposedly using AI while replying with clown emojis and “join the GOP,” you might want to really look at who sounds childish here.

Here’s a better idea, if you think Pennsylvania needs fixing and you know how to do it, step up. Run for something. Organize. Build something. Put your name out there. Take the criticism. Do the work. Risk failing.

Everybody loves to bitch from the sidelines but very few have the balls to step onto the field.

And no, I didn’t come remotely close to winning this time. I knew what I was up against. But I was willing to put myself out there, start something, and fight for what I believe Pennsylvania needs. And I’m going to keep doing it. if you want to keep putting your faith in the same GOP that just got its ass handed to it, go ahead and if you decide the socialist left is more your thing, have at it. You do you.

I’ll be over here actually doing the work.

Enjoy your life.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I agree 100% on voter ID.

But now is when the real fight begins. If Pennsylvania is ever going to change, it is going to happen because people stop settling, stop falling in line, and start pushing for real reform.

Sometimes it is in the darkest hours that the light finally starts to break through.

I believe we are at one of those moments right now. The election is over, but the fight to fix this Commonwealth is not. The people who are tired of the bullshit, tired of being ignored, and tired of watching both parties fail them need to keep speaking up, keep organizing, and keep pushing.

That is how change starts.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Tonight brings this campaign to an end.

But it does not bring my fight for Pennsylvania to an end. Not even close.

First, I want to thank everyone who supported me through this. Everyone who shared a post, told somebody about the campaign, signed a petition, sent me a message, defended me when people dismissed this campaign, encouraged me when things got difficult, and especially everyone who walked into a voting booth and wrote my name on that ballot.

I will never take that lightly.

You had other choices. You were told repeatedly that voting outside the two major parties was pointless, that an independent could not win, that you were wasting your vote, or that your vote somehow belonged to somebody else.

And you voted for who you believed in anyway.

Thank you.

I also want to thank the people who disagreed with me but did it civilly. Some of the best conversations I had during this campaign were with people who had absolutely no intention of voting for me. We argued policy, challenged each other, exchanged information, and sometimes walked away still completely disagreeing.

That is how politics is supposed to work.

I never expected everyone to agree with me. Hell, I would be suspicious of anybody who agreed with me on everything.

What I wanted was for people to think for themselves.

And after going through this campaign from the outside looking in, I believe that more than ever.

Democrats may have had a successful election night, but winning elections does not mean their problems disappeared. There are real divisions inside that party, growing ideological battles, and millions of people who do not believe either major party represents them anymore.

Republicans have even more difficult questions to answer. They need to stop assuming that dissatisfaction with Democrats automatically translates into Republican votes. They need to ask why so many working families are still struggling, why promises are not connecting with voters, why loyalty to personalities sometimes seems more important than results, and why candidates can be chosen by the party establishment and then left struggling to build the support necessary to actually win.

And that is the perspective I intend to keep bringing to Pennsylvania.

I am an Independent.

That means I do not wake up every morning looking for a way to defend Republicans or attack Democrats. I do not have to pretend Trump is right because Republicans support him. I do not have to defend Shapiro because Democrats had a good election night. I do not have to make excuses for anybody because they happen to wear the right political jersey.

If Republicans are right, I will say they are right.

If Democrats are right, I will say they are right.

And when either one of them is full of shit, I am going to say that too.

The same applies to Libertarians, independents, local government, Harrisburg, Washington, corporations, political organizations, and anybody else whose decisions affect the people of Pennsylvania.

No party gets a free pass from me.

Because somewhere along the way politics became more about protecting your team than protecting the people you are supposed to represent.

I have no interest in playing that game.

This campaign also showed me just how difficult the system makes it for anyone outside the two major parties to compete. Ballot-access barriers, fundraising, media exposure, debate access, party infrastructure, and the constant argument that voting outside the system is somehow throwing your vote away all reinforce the same cycle.

But I also saw something else.

There are cracks.

There are Republicans tired of Republican bullshit. Democrats tired of Democratic bullshit. Independents tired of being treated like spectators. People who disagree on plenty of issues but agree that government should actually work for the people paying for it.

That is where I believe something different can eventually begin.

So tonight I am closing one chapter.

I am not closing the book.

I will continue fighting for property-tax reform, affordable utilities, better schools, transportation reform, healthcare accountability, election reform, public safety, government transparency, and every other issue I talked about during this campaign.

I will continue asking the questions politicians do not like being asked.

I will continue digging past the slogans and political talking points.

And I will continue calling bullshit when I see it.

Actually.... you are going to be hearing quite a bit more of that very soon.

No party filter. No protecting “our side.” No carefully rehearsed political answers.

No spin. No bullshit. Just reality.

I will have several announcements coming over the next week or two about what comes next, and I think some of you are going to like where this is headed.

To everyone who supported me, voted for me, challenged me, debated me, criticized me fairly, or simply took the time to listen.... thank you.

I entered this race believing Pennsylvania deserved more choices and more honest conversations.

I leave it believing that even more strongly.

The campaign is over..... The fight for Pennsylvania isn't.

THIS IS NOT THE END.

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

James Moore
Unbought. Unafraid.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

@bizcreditfixer Sad little man....

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

@karaye70 Absolutely. Every one of them.

Republican, Democrat, Independent, local, state, or federal. If they are making decisions that affect the people of Pennsylvania, they should be questioned, challenged, and held accountable.

No free passes because of the letter next to their name.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Damn dude, go cry somewhere else about how badly the GOP screwed Pennsylvania right now.

I can’t help that some people see more than three sentences, realize they may actually have to read, and immediately yell “ChatGPT” because that is easier than responding to the point.

If you disagree with what I wrote, tell me what was wrong. Otherwise, the clown emoji just looks pathetic.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I’ll give you this, Josh.... you won.

The voters made their decision, and that deserves to be acknowledged. I may disagree with a hell of a lot of what you have done and what you stand for, but I respect the result.

What I will not do is pretend that one election suddenly erased the problems I have been talking about for months, or that winning gives anyone a free pass.

From where I stand as an independent, both major parties should be looking very hard at what happened tonight.

Democrats had a strong night, but that does not mean the cracks inside the party disappeared. There are still deep ideological divisions, growing pressure from the party’s more progressive wing, and a constant battle over whether Democrats are going to remain a broad coalition or keep moving further toward one side.

Republicans have their own mess to deal with. Trump’s endorsement was clearly not some automatic ticket to victory, and there is real frustration among voters over promises they believe have not been kept, the cost of living, families struggling to keep up, and a Republican Party that too often seems more interested in loyalty tests and attacking the other side than clearly explaining how it intends to govern.

And that is exactly why I chose not to belong to either of them.

I am not interested in defending Republicans because I lean right on some issues. I am not interested in defending Democrats because I happen to agree with them on others. I am not interested in pretending bad policy becomes good policy because the right letter is next to someone’s name.

If Shapiro does something right, I’ll say it.

If he does something stupid, dishonest, wasteful, or harmful to Pennsylvania, I’ll call it out.

The same goes for Garrity, Trump, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, local officials, state officials, and anyone else who has power over the people of this Commonwealth.

That is what independence means to me.

So yes, enjoy the victory.... but do not confuse winning an election with getting a free pass. The slogans, excuses, half-truths, partisan spin, and political bullshit are still fair game. From local government to Harrisburg to Washington, if it affects Pennsylvanians, it is going to get called out.

No party filter. No excuses. No spin. No bullshit. Just reality.

And if anyone thought this campaign ending meant I was going to disappear or suddenly get quiet.... You have not been paying attention.

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I’ll give you this, Josh.... you won.

The voters made their decision, and that deserves to be acknowledged. I may disagree with a hell of a lot of what you have done and what you stand for, but I respect the result.

What I will not do is pretend that one election suddenly erased the problems I have been talking about for months, or that winning gives anyone a free pass.

From where I stand as an independent, both major parties should be looking very hard at what happened tonight.

Democrats had a strong night, but that does not mean the cracks inside the party disappeared. There are still deep ideological divisions, growing pressure from the party’s more progressive wing, and a constant battle over whether Democrats are going to remain a broad coalition or keep moving further toward one side.

Republicans have their own mess to deal with. Trump’s endorsement was clearly not some automatic ticket to victory, and there is real frustration among voters over promises they believe have not been kept, the cost of living, families struggling to keep up, and a Republican Party that too often seems more interested in loyalty tests and attacking the other side than clearly explaining how it intends to govern.

And that is exactly why I chose not to belong to either of them.

I am not interested in defending Republicans because I lean right on some issues. I am not interested in defending Democrats because I happen to agree with them on others. I am not interested in pretending bad policy becomes good policy because the right letter is next to someone’s name.

If Shapiro does something right, I’ll say it.

If he does something stupid, dishonest, wasteful, or harmful to Pennsylvania, I’ll call it out.

The same goes for Garrity, Trump, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, local officials, state officials, and anyone else who has power over the people of this Commonwealth.

That is what independence means to me.

So yes, enjoy the victory.... but do not confuse winning an election with getting a free pass. The slogans, excuses, half-truths, partisan spin, and political bullshit are still fair game. From local government to Harrisburg to Washington, if it affects Pennsylvanians, it is going to get called out.

No party filter. No excuses. No spin. No bullshit. Just reality.

And if anyone thought this campaign ending meant I was going to disappear or suddenly get quiet.... You have not been paying attention.

THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I seriously hope you're joking.

Add my votes, Krawchuk’s votes, and every other write-in vote together and we still wouldn’t come close to the margin Shapiro is winning by. That total will probably not even reach 5% of the margin of victory.

So spare me the “you split the vote” excuse.

That tired logic is exactly what keeps the two-party system alive: every election is supposedly “too important” to vote for anyone else, so everyone is expected to fall in line forever.

And for the record, I do not support Shapiro.

I’ll continue calling out his bullshit just as hard as I call out Garrity’s, the Republican Party’s, the Democratic Party’s, or anyone else’s. And after this disaster of a campaign in Pennsylvania, the Republican Party has plenty of questions to answer about what happened with Garrity.

If a major-party candidate loses, look at their campaign and ask why they didn’t earn enough votes. Stop blaming independent candidates and voters for actually treating an election like an election.

That is literally the whole point.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Welcome to Pennsylvania’s political clown show.

On one side, Josh Shapiro promised a $250 gas rebate and never delivered. He spins procedural court wins like they were sweeping constitutional victories, and people act like he personally “saved democracy” every time a judge slows down a bad federal move. On the other side, Stacy Garrity is throwing out $750 driver-check promises, gas-tax holidays, and slogan-filled attacks as if the math just magically works itself out.

Then there is the dishonest spin.

Garrity acts like Shapiro created Pennsylvania’s gas-tax mess, even though the current structure traces back to Act 89 in 2013 under Corbett. She also pushes the line that Shapiro “gave himself” a raise, while conveniently leaving out that Pennsylvania’s salary increases are automatic under state law and that her own Treasurer salary rose under that same system too.

And Shapiro is no better when it comes to packaging politics. He sells image, fear, and national talking points while too often acting like he alone is standing between Pennsylvania and total collapse.

This is exactly why so many people are fed up.

We keep getting slogans, spin, half-truths, and campaign theater while regular Pennsylvanians are asking basic questions: Where does the money come from? What is the actual plan? What gets cut? What gets restructured? And why does nobody from either major party ever seem to want to answer in plain English?

Stop the circus.

Demand numbers. Demand facts. Demand real plans.

Pennsylvania deserves better than two candidates acting like the loudest sales pitch wins.

James Moore for Governor
They counted us out. Now write us in.
Unbought. Unafraid.
https://t.co/ImGjivCaKz

#MooreForPA #Pennsylvania #Independent #VoteIndependent #PoliticalReform #DemandBetter #NoMoreSlogans

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

The polls are closing, and before anything else, I want to say thank you.

Thank you to everyone who voted today. And I mean everyone.

If you voted for Josh Shapiro, thank you for participating. If you voted for Stacy Garrity, thank you. If you voted Libertarian, Independent, wrote in another candidate or wrote in my name, thank you.

We have spent too much time in this country treating people like enemies because they reached a different conclusion in a voting booth. We can argue. We can disagree strongly. We can call each other's policies bullshit when they deserve it. But at the end of the day, Pennsylvania still belongs to all of us.

This campaign became something I never expected when I started it. I came into this without millions of dollars, without television advertising, without major donors, without a political machine and without one of the two major parties clearing the road in front of me.

I was told I could not win. I was told to quit. I was called a spoiler, a disruptor and a vote splitter. I was told that running outside the two major parties meant I was wasting my time.

I kept going.

Not because I believed one election would magically fix Pennsylvania, but because somebody has to start pushing back against the idea that ordinary people are only allowed to participate in politics when Republicans or Democrats give them permission.

Whatever the numbers ultimately say, that does not end tonight.

I am not disappearing.

I am not walking away from Pennsylvania.

I am not suddenly going silent because Election Day is over.

There are things I have been working on that I have not announced yet, and those announcements will come soon. PA Reality Check will continue. The policy work will continue. The push for structural reform will continue. And the effort to build something outside this broken political system is only beginning.

Tonight belongs to the voters, though.

So whether you stood in line, mailed a ballot, researched every candidate, changed your mind at the last minute or walked into that booth knowing exactly what you were going to do, thank you for caring enough to participate.

Tomorrow we find out what Pennsylvania decided.

Then we get back to work.

Whatever happens tonight, remember one thing:

I’m not going anywhere.

James Moore
Unbought. Unafraid.
https://t.co/ImGjivCaKz

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

I appreciate that. One of the hardest parts of running outside the two major parties is simply getting seen without millions in advertising or a party machine behind you.

A lot of people have told me the same thing lately.... that they wish they had found my campaign sooner.

And yes, I fully intend to stay involved. This is not the end of anything for me.

[James Moore @MooreForPA]

Election Day is here.

For one day, forget the commercials, the party labels, the polling and all the people telling you who can and cannot win. Forget the R and the D for a minute and ask yourself a much more important question: what kind of Pennsylvania do you actually want to live in four years from now?

I want a Pennsylvania where people are not being taxed out of homes they already paid for. Where education is judged by whether children are actually prepared for life instead of by how much money Harrisburg spends. Where graduating students have real choices between college, trades, military service, entrepreneurship and the workforce. Where transportation is funded without permanently burying drivers underneath tolls and fuel taxes.

I want utility companies answering to consumers instead of the other way around. I want healthcare decisions made by doctors and patients instead of insurance-company algorithms. I want government to show you where your money goes. I want major corporations and data centers paying the infrastructure costs they create instead of passing them onto families. And I want independent candidates to have a fair opportunity to compete without first asking permission from Republicans or Democrats.

Most importantly, I want a Governor who remembers that Pennsylvania comes before party.

That is what my platform is built around. Structural reform instead of temporary rebates. Long-term fixes instead of campaign-season checks. Plans instead of slogans.

Whatever choice you make today, make it because you believe in it.

Do not let fear make the decision for you.

The ballot belongs to you.

James Moore for Governor
They counted us out. Now write us in.
Unbought. Unafraid.
https://t.co/ImGjivCIA7

#MooreForPA #ElectionDay #Pennsylvania #IndependentVoice #VoteYourConscience