Josh Shapiro, Doug Mastriano to face off in Pennsylvania governor's race

Josh Shapiro.
(Image credit: AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) won his state's Democratic gubernatorial primary on Tuesday, setting up a faceoff in November against the projected winner of the Republican gubernatorial primary, Doug Mastriano.

Mastriano, a state senator, has been a vocal proponent of former President Donald Trump's false claim of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. He attempted to launch a partisan audit of Pennsylvania's ballots, and was recorded outside of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. In his endorsement of Mastriano, Trump said he's "a fighter like few others, and has been with me right from the beginning, and now I have an obligation to be with him."

Shortly after the polls closed on Tuesday, Shapiro tweeted that "no matter which dangerous extremist we're against this November, the stakes are too damn high for anything but a victory." In Pennsylvania, the governor appoints the secretary of state, in charge of elections and signing off on electors. During an earlier interview with CNN, Shapiro said Pennsylvania is "the ultimate swing state, the epicenter of the battle to protect our democracy," and the next governor "is going to have a lot to say about the future of democracy."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Because of Mastriano's far-right views, some Republican leaders have worried he won't fare well with more moderate voters. "Sen. Mastriano has appeal to base Republicans, but I fear the Democrats will destroy him with swing voters," Pennsylvania state Senate Republican floor leader Kim Ward wrote in a Facebook post last week. "The goal isn't to win the primary. Winning the primary and losing the general because the candidate is unable to get the votes in the middle isn't a win. We need a candidate who can win in November."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.