More Republicans Are Running Away From Mastriano as He Digs In on Election-Fraud Lies

Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race, received backing from eight GOP figures this week in his race against State Senator Doug Mastriano, a far-right Republican backed by Donald Trump who has touched off tensions within the GOP around where the party should be headed without Trump in office. This week’s endorsements came just less than two months after an additional nine current and former Pennsylvania Republican officials threw their support behind Shapiro, the state’s attorney general.

James Schultz, a former associate White House counsel under Trump, explained his support for Shapiro in a Monday op-ed for Philadelphia magazine, noting that Mastriano led a baseless campaign to overturn Pennsylvania’s 2020 election results. “Because some in our state GOP leadership have put self-preservation over principled conservatism, we’re stuck with a conspiracy theorist candidate,” wrote Schultz. “But by no means must we stick by Doug Mastriano. I’m a proud Republican. I’m backing Josh Shapiro.” In a statement, Shapiro promised to continue bringing “Republicans and Democrats together” if elected, adding that he was “proud to receive the endorsement of these Republican leaders who are putting our commonwealth ahead of partisan politics in order to come together and move Pennsylvania forward.”

Other names on Shapiro’s new roster of Republican supporters include Michael Chertoff, the former secretary of homeland security during George W. Bush’s second term; David Heckler, a former district attorney; Mario Civera, the former Delaware County Council chairman; and four former state lawmakers. Like Schultz, Chertoff singled out Mastriano’s voter-fraud conspiracy theories in his endorsement of Shapiro. “Although I am a long-standing Republican, I am deeply troubled by Doug Mastriano’s embrace of dangerous extremism,” Chertoff told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, urging Americans to support candidates who will “defend our democracy,” no matter which party they claim. “Josh Shapiro, on the other hand, is a staunch defender of our democratic institutions and will lead Pennsylvania with honor and integrity,” Chertoff added. “I am proud to support his campaign for governor.”

Mastriano’s controversial views go beyond just the 2020 election. The winner of a 2019 special election for State Senate, Mastriano has called legal abortion a “barbaric holocaust” and argued that the separation of church and state, as outlined in the US Constitution, is a “myth.” Reuters also recently reported that Mastriano donned a Confederate uniform in a 2014 faculty photo at the Army War College.

Mastriano, a retired military officer, was put on the MAGA map in March 2020 while live streaming Facebook diatribes against COVID-19 lockdowns, according to The New York Times. A video he took in April of that year ended up amassing more than 850,000 views. Several months later, Mastriano propelled himself into Trump’s orbit after attending a “Stop the Steal” rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and he eventually partook in an alternate-elector plot designed to subvert Joe Biden’s win in the 2020 election.

After Republicans in the State Senate rebuked the scheme, Mastriano warned them of his influence amongst their voting bloc. “I have more followers on Facebook alone than all 49 other senators combined,” he said during an appearance on a local conservative podcast, per the Times. “That any colleague or fellow Republican would think that it would be a good idea to throw me under the bus with that kind of reach—I mean, they’re just not very smart people.” Since launching his gubernatorial campaign, Mastriano has by and large shunned mainstream outlets, relying almost exclusively on social media platforms—including Gab, a far-right site that he recently distanced himself from—and friendly media figures to promote his candidacy.