Trump-backed Mastriano wins GOP Pennsylvania governor nod
Associated PressHARRISBURG, Pa. — Doug Mastriano won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania governor on Tuesday, beating eight other candidates and a party establishment that had tried to head off his nomination over fears that he is too extreme to win the general election in the presidential battleground. Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel and state senator since 2019 who was endorsed by former President Donald Trump, will face Democrat Josh Shapiro in the November election. In a statement, Shapiro said he knows Pennsylvanians are worried right now, “and that’s why they need a governor they can count on and one who can meet this moment.” He called Mastriano a “dangerous extremist who wants to take away our freedoms.” Mastriano, 58, represents a Senate district based in conservative Franklin County on Pennsylvania’s southern border with Maryland. Mastriano went on to pad his support among hardcore Trump backers by working with the former president to overturn his loss in 2020’s election in the presidential battleground state. Shapiro’s campaign, meanwhile, closed the primary campaign by running a TV ad portraying Mastriano as extreme and saying that if Mastriano wins, “it’s a win for what Donald Trump stands for.” Mastriano has insisted to supporters that he is not extreme and that his platforms — including eliminating mail-in voting, expanding gun rights, banning abortion and banishing school property taxes — enjoy broad support.