Mastriano, Pa. Supreme Court candidate slated to appear at QAnon conference

A Pennsylvania state senator and a Philadelphia judge who’s running for the state’s highest court are set to appear at a QAnon-branded conference in June, according to posts from a conspiracy-laden podcast.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, and Judge Paula Patrick, a Republican running for state Supreme Court, are listed as speakers at the event, titled “Patriots Arise, Awakening the Dead!” 

The event is hosted by Up Front in the Prophetic, a conspiratorial podcast hosted by Allen and Francine Fosdick, according to Media Matters, a left-leaning non-profit that watchdogs right-wing media. 

Among the categories listed on the podcast’s website are “Q,” and “The Storm,” terms from QAnon, a conspiracy theory that falsely claims a cabal of Democratic politicians, billionaires and celebrities kidnap and eat children to stay young, and that only former President Donald Trump and the military can stop them.

MediaMatters cited an archived webpage from Up Front in the Prophetic, that lists Mastriano and Patrick among its June conference speakers.

“We The People shall take back our freedoms … WWG1WGA,” the archived event description reads. The latter is a reference to “where we go one, we go all,” a motto for adherents to QAnon.

That archived description said the event would take place on June 25 and 26 at the Eisenhower Hotel in Gettysburg. But a description of the conference currently on the podcast’s website lists its dates between June 24 and 26 and claims the location is yet to be announced.

The conference is for “assembling, organizing, and mobilizing together with existing Patriots with an objective sense of duty for scripture and the constitution,” according to the current post on Up Front in the Prophetic’s website. 

The current post does not include a speaker’s list, or direct references to QAnon. But it does make reference to another, adjacent conspiracy theory.

“We were founded as a Sovereign Nation, thus we are going to remain a Sovereign Republic,” the website reads, adding: “We need to come together in defense of our liberty that protects our freedom and take our country back, as [Sovereign] Citizens now.”

The latter is a reference to the sovereign citizen movement, an anti-government conspiracy theory that views the existing United States government as illegitimate. 

A Facebook post last Sunday advertising the podcast’s conference also features a graphic with Mastriano, a state senator first elected in a 2019 special election, and Patrick, a Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas Judge first elected in 2003.

Contacted by the Capital-Star, Patrick said she was unaware that she was listed as a speaker at the podcast’s event, saying that her “schedule is all over the place” amid her run.

Mastriano did not respond to a request for comment.

Both Patrick and Mastriano have also previously appeared on Up Front in the Prophetic. Mastriano appeared in July 2020, while Patrick appeared in March 2021 amid her Supreme Court run.

“Maybe because they had me on the podcast, they assumed” she would appear, Patrick said.

But Patrick was asked directly by Francine Fosdick about the June event in her March appearance, 

“I’m excited you are thinking about being at our upcoming event,” Fosdick said, before extolling listeners to “rally around” Patrick.

Patrick added that she met the Fosdicks through “prophet Mark Taylor,” a reference to a retired Florida firefighter who created a movie claiming that Trump was chosen by God to be president.

As for QAnon, Patrick told the Capital-Star: “I don’t know anything about that, I don’t support any of that.”

In his interview, Mastriano discussed Gov. Tom Wolf’s executive orders, and the potential of a gubernatorial run.

During his run for state office, Mastriano shared conspiratorial, anti-Muslim memes on his personal Facebook account. He also requested a state hearing with former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani to discuss baseless election fraud accusations, and was outside the U.S. Capitol on January 6.

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