‘Never Mastrianos’: Prominent Republicans Join Movement to Stop Trump-Backed Gov. Candidate in Pennsylvania
Republican candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, Doug Mastriano, continues to stir controversy in his bid to replace Democrat Tom Wolf (D-PA) this November.
Mastriano, who worked to overturn the 2020 presidential election in the key swing state, has won the enthusiastic endorsement of former President Donald Trump but continues to bleed support among Pennsylvania Republicans.
A group of Republicans, led by former U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-PA), have formed a new group called Republicans for Shapiro, which will work to elect Mastriano’s Democratic opponent Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
“I think he’s an extreme, dangerous guy who is out of touch with the majority of the people in Pennsylvania,” said Greenwood, who the Philadelphia Inquirer noted also “expressed concern that Mastriano as governor could create a crisis in Pennsylvania’s election in 2024 if Trump seeks the presidency again.”
Greenwood listed for the Inquirer exactly what about Mastriano makes him unacceptable in his view:
Mastriano’s attendance at the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol, his use of campaign funds to bus supporters to that event, his repeated claims of debunked conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, his vow to ban all abortion in the state with no exceptions for rape, incest, or to save the life of the pregnant person, his opposition to gay marriage, and his comparison of gun-control measures to Nazism.
Republicans for Shapiro has already claimed several high-profile GOP members including “veterans from the administrations of former Republican Govs. Dick Thornburgh and Tom Ridge, including Murray Dickman, George Grode, James Seif, Bob Wilburn, Walter Cohen, and former state legislators Joe Conti, David Heckler, and Bob Jubelirer.”
On Thursday, another member of the group, former longtime Congressman Charlie Dent (R-PA) also endorsed Shapiro.
“I just don’t think he really respects our electoral system and he’s even suggested he might appoint some people to be Secretary of State who, in my view, might not be fair in administering elections in this state,” said Dent in a statement.
Other members of the so-called “Never Mastriano” Republicans include “former state Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, former Speaker of the House Denny O’Brien and, former Lt. Gov. Bob Jubelirer,” according to WITF news.
“Former state Reps. Dave Steil and Lita Cohen, along with Morgan Boyd, chairman of the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners, and Ken Davis, former chairman of the Montgomery County GOP,” are also among their ranks.
Craig Snyder, a former chief of staff to the late U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, is set to run the political operations for the group. “Mastriano is unacceptable,” Snyder said to Inquirer. “You can withhold support from Mastriano without declaring yourself to be a progressive.”
