Political campaigns
2018 lieutenant gubernatorial campaign
Bartos initially began his first political campaign in the election for U.S. senator,challenging Democratic incumbent Bob Casey Jr. He chose to withdraw once it became clear that president Donald Trump would choose to support congressman Lou Barletta,and instead ran as a candidate for lieutenant governor of Pennsylvania. He began his campaign in a joint ticket with state senator Scott Wagner,and the two were later endorsed by the Pennsylvania Republican Party. [4] [5] Bartos won the May 2018 primary election with 46.8% of the vote,joining Wagner in the general election to face incumbent governor Tom Wolf and his new running mate,Braddock mayor John Fetterman. [6]
Bartos and Fetterman formed what was referred to as an "unlikely friendship" on the campaign trail. [7] In October,the two had a "cordial but lively" televised debate on WPXI,rarely mentioning each other's names and choosing only to attack the top of each other's ticket. [8] Wagner and Bartos would lose the general election to Wolf and Fetterman by 17 points,the worst performance for a Republican ticket since 2006. [9]
2022 U.S. Senate campaign
Bartos declared his candidacy for the United States Senate in March 2021,running to succeed Republican senator Pat Toomey,who announced his retirement in October 2020. [10] He was noted as a frontrunner in the early stages of the campaign,winning the state Republican Party Central Caucus straw poll in January 2022,though he would ultimately fall behind candidates such as hedge fund CEO Dave McCormick and television personality Mehmet Oz,the latter of which was endorsed by Trump in April. [11] [12] In response,Bartos referred to his opponents as "political tourists" who had only moved to Pennsylvania in order to run for office. [1] In the May 2025 primary election,Bartos finished in fifth place with just under 5% of the vote. [13]