A group of prominent Pennsylvania Republicans broke ranks with their party this week to endorse Democrat Josh Shapiro in his gubernatorial bid over their party’s nominee, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who many fear is too extreme to win independent and mainstream Republican support in November’s election.
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Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s attorney general, rolled out endorsements from former Reps. Charlie Dent and Jim Greenwood, ex-Montgomery County Republican Party Chairman Ken Davis, and one-time state Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman. Also endorsing Shapiro over Mastriano were former Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer, ex-state House Speaker Dennis O’Brien, Lawrence County Commission Chairman Morgan Boyd, and a pair of former state representatives, Dave Steil and Lita Cohen.
The group constitutes a notable fracture among Republicans, with prominent elected officials and political operatives encouraging voters to split their tickets to back Shapiro but support Republicans in other races, including the Republican Senate nominee, television personality Dr. Oz.
Craig Snyder, a former chief of staff to the late Sen. Arlen Specter, who will run the political operation for the group Republicans for Shapiro, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that “Mastriano is unacceptable.”
“You can withhold support from Mastriano without declaring yourself to be a progressive,” Snyder said.
Mastriano won Pennsylvania’s Republican gubernatorial nomination earlier this year despite a last-ditch effort by some state Republicans to coalesce the field around a different candidate they felt would fare better against Shapiro.
Mastriano, a staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump, backed the baseless claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Mastriano attended both a QAnon-linked event in Gettysburg and the Washington, D.C., rally that took place before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, using campaign funds to bus supporters to Washington that day. Mastriano also frequently barred media from his campaign events in the final days of the race.
After he secured the nomination, nonpartisan election analysts changed the race’s rankings from toss-up to lean Democrat. The Republican Governor’s Association in May offered a tepid statement about Mastriano’s win that said the group “remains committed to engaging in competitive gubernatorial contests where our support can have an impact in defending our incumbents and expanding our majority this year,” without specifying whether Mastriano would be one of those candidates it works to support.
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Pennsylvania is a key battleground state, and its open gubernatorial seat will soon be vacated by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who is term-limited.
