Pennsylvania’s far-right gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano won the GOP nomination on Tuesday.
If he wins the general election in November, he vowed to “clean up the election logs” by requiring Pennsylvania voters to re-register. Mastriano will face off with Democratic nominee and current state attorney general Josh Shapiro to succeed term-limited Gov. Tom Wolf (D).
Mastriano is a strong supporter of former President Donald Trump‘s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen” and “rigged.” President Joe Biden narrowly won Pennsylvania back in 2020. It came down to just over one percentage point. Mastriano said that if he becomes governor, he will appoint a secretary of state who will disregard the current 8.7 million Pennsylvania voters and start over.
Pennsylvania Republican circles have voiced growing concerns, especially after Trump–endorsed Mastriano propelling him to a victory. They fear Mastriano is too extreme to win over swing voters in a highly contested state which has elected a Democratic governor the last two terms. Pennsylvania has four million registered Democrats, 3.4 registered Republicans and 1.2 million who don’t identify with either party. The January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally go-er has also stated support for banning abortion as early as six weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.
Republicans are also worried that Shapiro wanted Mastriano to win because he saw him as the weaker candidate. When it became clear that Mastriano was leading in the polls, Shapiro aired an ad reiterating Mastirano’s strong ties to Trump, which Mastriano thanked him for.
