DV Journal

Republican lieutenant governor candidate state Rep. Carrie DelRosso knows her running mate, state Sen. Doug Mastriano, is getting outspent by a huge margin. But she told a Montgomery County Moms for Liberty meeting in Lansdale Monday the GOP ticket is counting on a grassroots army of “mama bears” to take them to victory.

“Shapiro has a $16 million TV buy. What else can he say about a 30-year colonel in the Army, who knows strategy, who’s brilliant, he’s got his doctorate in history?”

While the event was billed as a discussion of Mastriano’s education plan, the conversation was open-ended. Many attendees expressed their worries the Nov. 8 election will be stolen through mail-in ballots and drop boxes. DelRosso encouraged them to sign up to be poll watchers and to turn off the TV and knock on doors and make phone calls.

Mastriano, who recently voted to increase state funding for education by $800,000, has noted the average Pennsylvania school district spends $20,000 per student.

Carrie DelRosso (center rear) with Montgomery County Moms for Liberty in Lansdale. Josh Herman, Mastriano campaign deputy campaign manager, front right.

As governor, his proposals include strengthening and enforcing statewide curriculum transparency requirements and working with the legislature to establish a universal “parental rights” statute, according to Josh Herman, deputy campaign manager, who also came to the Moms for Liberty meeting.

Mastriano believes schools should teach children how to think, not what to think. On day one, Mastriano will ban Critical Race and Gender Theory studies. He also opposes biological males using girls’ locker rooms and restrooms and would ban biological males from competing in women’s sports, Herman said.

Mastriano also supports school choice. He believes every child is entitled to a top-notch education and that, when schools compete, it promotes excellence. He will make sure public schools continue to receive level funding but will also back competition that will improve them. And Mastriano plans to work with the legislature to bring school choice to Pennsylvania families to prevent children from being trapped in failing schools, Herman said.

“It’s time that we empower the parents and not these institutions,”  Mastriano said recently.

DelRosso, who grew up in Scranton, was upbeat about the chances for the Republican ticket, despite being outspent massively by their opponents.

After going to college at the University of Pittsburgh, she stayed in that area.  The divorced mother of three children, who served on the Oakmont Borough Council, was running her own public relations business when she decided to run for a seat in the state House, mostly because she saw what was going on behind the scenes in her local school district.

She flipped her Allegheny County district and beat the state Democrat minority leader by working hard and going door-to-door. She said she believes the Mastriano/DelRosso campaign can use those same grassroots tactics to win in November.

She was going to lose her seat this cycle due to redistricting, so she decided to run for lieutenant governor “to serve the people.”

“The Democratic old boys’ regime tried to sideline me,” she said. “I was the last person in the (lieutenant governor’s) race and I ended up winning by 120,000 votes.”

Her oldest son, Vincent, 14, asked her what she was going to do when he learned about redistricting. She said she would find a job.

“He told me, ‘Mom, you don’t retreat.’” When her son was in 8th grade he did a presentation for his public speaking class on the person he admired most. He chose his mom. He gave her the speech that he had written for Mother’s Day and she framed it. Her other children, Domenic, 12, and Mia, 11, are also onboard with her campaign.

And, she said, all three kids know not to believe all the negative campaign commercials now running against their mom and Mastriano.

“My kids get it now. Even the negative ads now, (her son says), ‘Watch this one, Mom.’ He knows it’s propaganda.”

Herman said he first heard about Moms for Liberty because of a Libs of TikTok tweet about a North Penn School District teacher making White kids apologize to Black kids because of their skin color during a “privilege walk.” He talked to Mastriano about it and got involved, even though it was not his district.

“A lot of other politicians would have said, ‘It’s not our district, it’s another senator or representative’s issue,’” said Herman. “That’s not the kind of guy Doug Mastriano is.”

“There’s other stuff going on in every school district across Pennsylvania,” said Herman. “There’s a very clear contrast in this race.  When you look at what (Gov.) Tom Wolf’s Department of Education has done in this state, the results are pretty clear. The last test results statewide showed that only 22 percent of 8th graders were proficient in either math or reading, 22 percent.”

“It’s time to rethink education here in Pennsylvania,” said Herman. “Josh Shapiro stood with Tom Wolf in supporting the mask mandates, he supported the school closures, all the horrible things the pandemic brought in 2020, the school shutdowns, the escalation of these woke ideologies, whether it was CRT, gender theory, all kinds of this nonsense that has crept into our schools across Pennsylvania. One of the most encouraging things we saw was a grassroots movement that rose up.

“It was led by angry mamma bears,” he said. That led to elections in 2021 across America where parents elected new school boards, including the Back to School PA movement. In Virginia, it led to the election of (Gov.) Glenn Youngkin. “That election was mostly owed to parents saying, ‘Enough is enough.’  (Defeated Democrat) Terry McAuliffe is just basically a Virginia version of Josh Shapiro.”

“Doug Mastriano, as a state senator, his record is clear,” said Herman. “He is always going to stand with parents. He is going to stand for freedom…He is going to increase transparency.”

Wolf vetoed a bipartisan bill that said curriculum had to be posted online.

“Doug Mastriano will sign that into law,” said Herman. “The number one priority is going to be empowering the voices of parents.”

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At his “Save America” rally in Wilkes-Barre Saturday, former President Donald Trump did not quite announce that he will run again in 2024. But he came close.

“I may just have to do it again,” he said of a future White House bid. He later added, “In 2024, we’re going to take back our magnificent White House.”

The crowd, which traveled from across Pennsylvania and the northeast to see Trump, cheered what they heard. The Delaware Valley Journal spoke to people from Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. Many sported clothing with Trump slogans or wore MAGA hats. And there was a party atmosphere as they waited for the former president to arrive, with music, dancing, singing, and chants.

“It’s great,” said Schuylkill Township resident Deborah Sulli, a Chester County Republican committeewoman about the rally that she attended with her mother, Lana Hill, of Paoli, “I support Trump and I support our candidates. I think it’s outrageous that Biden would say that over half the country is fascist.”

Hill, who is active in the pro-life movement said, “I love Trump. He should have been president (instead of Joe Biden). He really is our president; still should be. We’d never have this upside-down world if he was still president.”

In his remarks, Trump touched on inflation, illegal immigration, the border wall, taxes, regulations, national security, the Fentanyl epidemic, and the 2020 election. But he added a new element: the FBI raid on his home.

The Biden administration is “censoring free speech, criminalizing dissent… “Disarming law-abiding citizens” issuing lawless mandates and unconstitutional orders and “imprisoning political protesters, rigging elections.”

It is “weaponizing the Justice Department and the FBI like never before and breaking into the homes of their political opponents.

“Just a few weeks ago we witnessed one of the most shocking abuses of power by any administration in American history,” Trump said. “The shameful raid and break-in of my home in Mar-a-Lago is a travesty. They have made a mockery of America’s laws, traditions, and principles…Like a third-world country…the Biden administration invaded the home of their political opponent who is absolutely destroying them in the polls.”

Trump panned Biden’s Sept. 1 speech at Independence Hall, calling it “the most vicious, hateful and divisive speech ever delivered by an American president, vilifying 75 million citizens…as threats to democracy and as enemies of the state. You’re all enemies of the state.”

Trump supporter Micki Larson-Olson

“I think Philadelphia was a great choice to make a speech of hatred and anger,” said Trump. “Otherwise the next morning he forgot what he said (referring to Biden walking back his attack on Trump supporters). How did you like the red lighting behind him, like the devil?”

Philadelphia “is being devastated under Democrat rule…14 people were shot last week in Philadelphia, 14…Four people were killed last weekend. At one point last month, seven people were shot in just 71 minutes. Philadelphia has already seen more than 1,400 people shot this year, including numerous beautiful little children.”

“Last year Philadelphia set an all-time murder record with 560 homicides. And it’s on track to shatter that record again in 2022, numbers nobody has seen in other Democratic cities. Armed robberies are up 60 percent. Doug (Mastriano), you have to take care of that.”

Trump said the average drug dealer is responsible for 500 deaths throughout his lifetime and called for the death penalty for drug dealers.

Trump praised the Republican candidates for U.S. Senate and governor, Dr. Mehmet Oz and state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who also spoke at the rally, and he roasted their Democratic opponents, Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

Fetterman wears “a sweat suit…He’s dressed like a teenager hiding in his parents’ basement. But he’s for breaking hardened criminals out of jail in the middle of the worst crime wave in Pennsylvania history.  And by the way, he wants to get rid of your police. Fetterman is a defund the police Marxist who is just pulling the wool over people’s eyes.”

“Fetterman has released a record number of dangerous criminals out on the streets…Fetterman supports taxpayer-funded drug dens and the complete defunding of illegal drugs…which will mean death and despair to every community in Pennsylvania…And he signed a pledge to ban fracking which would demolish almost a million jobs in Pennsylvania…He’s a socialist loser who leached off his parents’ money until he was 49 years old,” said Trump.

When he took the stage, Oz had a question for the crowd. “Is the country headed in the right direction? If you’re afraid to say yes, take away their car keys they shouldn’t be driving…This country has dramatically turned in the wrong direction. I’m the person for change.”

“We’re going to fight like hell for voting integrity and I’m going to start with voter ID,” said Mastriano. “My opponent is too dangerous, too extreme, too radical for Pennsylvania. He can’t even define what a woman is.”

Mastriano, a former Armey colonel, recalled 9/11 and Todd Beamer on Flight 93, saying, “Pennsylvania, let’s roll.”

Trump’s take on Shapiro? “He is a disaster for the state…As attorney general, he presided over the complete disintegration of law and order and letting gangs and criminals run wild.”

Shapiro would “let criminals roam your streets and he’s not going to let you have a gun.” Shapiro supported school shutdowns and masks “to be strapped to your children’s faces.” And he called Shapiro a “pro-abortion extremist.”

Trump’s criticism was bipartisan. He called on Pennsylvania’s Republican-controlled legislature to repeal no-excuse mail-in ballots.

“We need a landslide so big the radicalized left can’t rig it,” Trump said.

Local Republicans are hoping Trump’s visit will rally turnout among his supporters for the GOP ticket, which has consistently trailed Democrats in the polls. However, some recent polls show Mastriano and Oz trailing by just single digits as the election enters the post-Labor Day campaign stretch.

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About 200 enthusiastic supporters packed Gatsby’s Bar and Restaurant in Aston Wednesday to listen to state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican gubernatorial candidate.

Before addressing the crowd, Mastriano shook hands and posed for pictures, along with his wife, Rebecca. Dave White, a Delaware County businessman and former Delaware County councilman who also ran for governor, introduced Mastriano.

Rebecca and Doug Mastriano talk with supporters

“We came out of a contentious primary but in that primary, you had nine people that had nine great ideas and the people spoke,” said White, who has traveled the state supporting Mastriano. “And this is the time to come together. If you believe in economic development and tapping our resources and making Pennsylvania the energy capital of the United States, join this team. If you believe in school choice…we need Gov. Mastriano.”

Mastriano spoke for about 40 minutes, touching on various issues and getting in a few jabs at his Democrat opponent Attorney General Josh Shapiro as well as the press, which has not been kind to him. Every few sentences, the crowd cheered, applauded, or called out encouragement.

Dave White introduces Doug Mastriano.

Mastriano mentioned that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came to rally with him last Friday.

“The irony of coming to a state where our governor got it all wrong,” said Mastriano. “Ron DeSantis is showing us the way ahead for Pennsylvania. Our goal is to make Pennsylvania the Florida of the north.”

“My opponent spent $12 million and has nothing to show for it. He had no primary…He’s going to lose bad.”

“Sadly, Josh’s message is one of darkness and hate and division,” said Mastriano. “Of name calling, which Democrats are good at. And media, he has a six-year record as attorney general, won’t you even talk about that? No, because you like him.”

“He can’t run on his record because he’s a failure,” said Mastriano. “He’s been the attorney general for six years and crime has gone up 37 percent on his watch. Now Pennsylvania is the 12th highest in homicide, the senior law enforcement official…This guy’s incompetent. We ought to throw the bum out.”

“On his watch, we’re the 8th highest in overdoses,” he said.  “The fourth highest in Fentanyl. Sex trafficking is through the roof. He looks the other way with illegals.”

Instead of fighting crime, Shapiro sued the Little Sisters of the Poor, he said.

“Yes, he’s running lots of ads,” said Mastriano. “If anyone believes those ads I’ve got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn, cheap. As my Afghan friends said, ‘best friend price.’”

Mastriano served in the Army for 30 years and retired as a colonel before winning a seat in the state Senate to represent Franklin County. He also holds a Ph.D. in history.

He called the Biden administration’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan “disgusting,” and asked for a show of hands for Afghan veterans. “That just tore my heart out and I’m sure it’s a similar feeling to what the Vietnam veterans saw in 1975 with the fall of Saigon. Sheer incompetence. That incompetence emboldened tyrants like Putin. And I will note that Vladimir Putin behaved under Donald Trump, so we need old 45 to come rolling back.”

Trump endorsed Mastriano and plans to rally with him and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in Wilkes-Barre on Sept. 3.

The Shapiro campaign has attacked Mastriano’s pro-life stand and, with the demise of Roe v. Wade, it has become an election issue.

About 20 demonstrators with pro-choice signs stood outside Gatsby’s before the Mastriano event and listened to remarks by Delaware County Party Chairwoman Colleen Guiney and state Sen. John Kane (D-Delaware/Chester).

“We believe that women have bodily autonomy,” she said, saying that they stand with Shapiro on women’s rights. Mastriano “has said, ‘Abortion should end right now and we should have no exceptions.’ That 11-year-old child has been victimized by a family member and is pregnant, she should carry that child to term. We don’t believe that is his choice. That is the choice of the child and their family and their doctor…I don’t believe doctors should do and I don’t believe women should go to jail for having healthcare in the United States of America.”

Kane said, “Yo, Doug Mastriano, you come into Delco with your no-comment express press conference. Delaware County does not want an extremist like you here.”

Asked by Delaware Valley Journal why Shapiro funded commercials that boosted Mastriano’s campaign during the GOP primary if he is such a ‘dangerous extremist,’ Kane said, “He wanted to make sure everybody knows what Doug Mastriano is all about. Doug Mastriano…when you’re taking rights away from women when you’re still talking about the election being stolen. When I got sworn in, I got sworn in with an awful lot of Republicans at the same time. Nobody ended up saying their election was stolen.”

During the rally, Mastriano introduced his wife, Rebecca, to talk about women’s rights.

“We believe in a women’s right to be born,” she said, and listed other rights such as safety, children’s education, and a “right to access baby formula and affordable groceries.”

“We believe in a woman’s right to raise a child where the government is enforcing the law and prosecuting crime,” she said. “We believe in a woman’s right to live in a nation with a secure border. We believe in a woman’s right to the First Amendment and after all, we are Pennsylvanians, we believe in a woman’s right to the Second Amendment. We believe in a woman’s right to compete in sports not dominated by men.”

“They don’t want to talk about inflation,” said Mastriano. “It’s so bad that even Jimmy Carter is looking decent now.”

“They don’t want to talk about the cities being burned to the ground just down the road from here, the Summer of Love,” he said.

Mastriano promised he would end Pennsylvania as a “sanctuary state.”

“When those ghost flights come into our airports, I’ll have the beautiful Pennsylvania State Police meeting those flights and…escorting those buses down to Joe Biden’s house in Delaware.” He praised law enforcement and mentioned that he’d gotten the state FOP’s endorsement.

Delaware County Democratic chair Colleen Guiney with protesters.

Mastriano also promised to take the state out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative that is driving up the cost of electricity and to bring energy jobs back to Pennsylvania.

“Pennsylvania, we are truly at a crossroads between (Gov.) Wolf and Shapiro tyranny or under Mastriano freedom and liberty. I don’t know about you, but I chose freedom and liberty,” he said.

Several supporters told DVJournal why they support Mastriano.

“Our country is falling apart. I need to stick up for my children. I need to be able to tell my children I fought for our country,” said Maureen Willis of Landenberg, a former Democrat.

And Drexel Hill resident Richard Pruett said, “I support Doug, just like Donald Trump is supporting Doug. He believes in freedom. He believes in American first, energy independence. I love the fact he fought for us in battle, that he’s a colonel and on Day One he’ll open up the pipeline.”

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Despite forecasts of a national red wave, Pennsylvania Democrat nominees for governor and U.S. Senate have double-digit leads in a battleground state that Joe Biden carried by just over 1 percent against Donald Trump.

If Republican candidates like gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano and U.S. Senate contender Dr. Mehmet Oz are going to have a chance in November, they have to keep the margins close in the Delaware Valley counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery.

“Those counties are vital not just in this election but in every election in large part because of the large number of people who live in those communities,” Berwood Yost, director of the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College, told DVJournal. “These suburban voters used to be solidly Republican and now are more Democrat in their voting habits.”

Yost added, “Republicans can win if they really run up the numbers in the rest of the state, but it’s a lot easier if they do better in those counties.”

In the race to replace retiring Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, the state’s Democrat Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, part of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party, has consistently held a double-digit lead in the polls. A new poll from the Center Street PAC gives Fetterman a 47-to-30 percent advantage.

A recent Fox News poll shows Democrat Attorney General Josh Shapiro with a 10-point lead, 50 to 40 percent over Mastriano in the race to replace term-limited Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf.

Trump, who in 2016 carried Pennsylvania by a razor-thin margin, endorsed both Oz and Mastriano during the Republican primary.

A post-primary analysis by the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin and Marshall College called urban and rural the “central dividing line” that was evident in both party primaries, but starker on the Republican side.

“Mastriano’s support mirrors President Trump’s support during his 2016 primary win in Pennsylvania: underperforming in the state’s large central and fringe metros and overperforming in the state’s less dense rural communities,” the analysis said. By contrast, the analysis found Oz “overperformed in the large central and fringe metros, while underperforming in the less dense communities of the state.”

Of Democrats, the analysis says: “Fetterman’s support among Democrats was much stronger in smaller, less densely populated communities than in the large central and fringe metros where Conor Lamb did a bit better. Still, he won convincingly in each community type.”

In the general election, a big part of the problem seems to be the state GOP doesn’t have the strongest nominees, both faring poorly in the Philadelphia suburban counties where Trump and Toomey held their own.

“A conventional conservative Republican rather than a MAGA Republican might fare better,” Matthew Kerbel, a political science professor at Villanova University, told DVJournal.

“For Mastriano, his problem is ideological. Voters are turned off by a candidate who can be positioned as extreme,” Kerbel said. “Oz has more of an authenticity problem. Stressing that he is from New Jersey plays into doubts people already had. Fetterman comes across as genuine. He’s certainly a liberal, but he has a demeanor that is blue collar, which minimizes his ideology.”

Delaware and Montgomery Counties are more closely aligned with Philadelphia while Bucks and Chester counties have rural areas and are more politically diverse, said Dan Mallinson, a public policy professor at Pennsylvania State University. Still, he said, the counties are much bluer than before.

“People come to the eastern part of the state out of New York City and New Jersey as those areas have become more expensive to live,” Mallinson said. “The general movement is in line with Democrats. A lot of wealth has come into that area, which used to be aligned with Republicans as the pro-business party. But now the Democrats have a lot of wealthy people in their party.”

On the flip side, Mallinson predicts both races will tighten, noting a sizeable number of Democrats changing their registration to Republican, though many have been voting Republican for a while before the registration change. Moreover, most elected Republicans in the state seem to be warming a bit to Mastriano.

“Mastriano and Shapiro remind me of the 2016 presidential race,” he said. “The Republicans had an outsider and the Democrats had an established, experienced heir apparent. That doesn’t always work out so well for all the talk we heard about Never Trumpers. We’ll see what happens with Mastriano.”

Pat Poprik, chair of the Bucks County Republican Committee, believes voters will vote their pocketbooks.

“For decades, the Philadelphia suburbs have been a bellwether for the national political environment,” said Poprik.  “Bucks County, in particular, has always been the focus of statewide and national attention for its ‘swing’ status.  For any candidate to be successful statewide, they must perform well here in our region.  We believe that historic inflation, rising gas prices, and higher food costs are driving suburban voters to reject the failed Democrat policies that have led us here.  By offering an alternative vision for our commonwealth and our country, Republican candidates will succeed in November.”

And Liz Preate Havey, the Republican chair for Montgomery County said, “Twenty years ago a successful Republican statewide candidate had to win convincingly in the southeast in order to offset large Democratic wins in the cities of Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. With huge Republican growth outside of the southeast region, it is no longer necessary for Republicans to win the Southeast. However, Republicans still need to remain competitive in the suburbs to win statewide and thus still need to appeal to suburban voters.”

While neither Biden nor Trump is popular in the state now, Trump’s favorable rating in the state is 44 percent compared to Biden at 42 percent, according to the Fox poll. So, while Democrats wouldn’t likely want to jeopardize their leads by bringing in Biden to stump, the two lagging Republicans may have nothing to lose from a Trump appearance to excite the base, should their fortunes not reverse.

The poll found more than half of voters did not think Oz was familiar enough with Pennsylvania to represent the state, while fewer than a quarter were worried about Fetterman’s health after he had a recent stroke. Still, Oz leads 10 points among rural voters. That doesn’t quite compensate for the 23-point Fetterman lead among suburban voters near the population centers of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery counties.

In Pennsylvania, as well as the rest of the country, the top issues for voters tend to advantage Republicans.

For Pennsylvania voters, the top concern is inflation, and most disapprove of how Biden and Democrats have handled rising prices. Democrats say abortion is their top issue, but only 14 percent of Keystone State voters agree.

More than half say their financial situation is worse than two years earlier, while more than one-third said it’s the same and just 10 percent say they are doing better.

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Pennsylvania Democrats claim a church in south central Pennsylvania crossed the line when it hosted a film premiere last month featuring an in-person appearance by GOP gubernatorial nominee state Sen. Doug Mastriano. They claim the church may have violated the rules for nonprofits and they have filed a formal complaint.

While the Mastriano campaign shrugged it off as politics as usual, some Republicans noted that when it comes to politics in church, Democrats — particularly Philadelphia Democrats — are throwing stones in their own glass houses.

Mastriano attended the July 16 screening of “The Return of the American Patriot” at Christ Community Church in Camp Hill. He is facing Democrat state Attorney General Josh Shapiro in the November election.

Katherine Jarrett of Mechanicsburg, filed a complaint alleging the events at the premiere broke prohibitions against 501(c)3s engaging in political activity in support of a specific candidate. Under federal tax law, certain nonprofits—such as churches–cannot endorse candidates.

The church’s pastor, Rev. John March, told Fox 43: “There was no promotion done for him [Mastriano] running for governor in any way. That was how we set it up in the beginning if they were going to do it.”

Mastriano defenders point out the film presentation was very different from a partisan political gathering like those Democrats hold regularly in houses of worship or with religious groups.

In February, the Enon Tabernacle Baptist Church in Philadelphia held a candidate’s night event for the U.S. Senate race.

In May, the Black Clergy of Philadelphia and Vicinity went even farther, endorsing a slate of candidates in the state’s primary. That is an advocacy organization made up of pastors, not a church itself. But under the implied endorsement argument, when member pastors return to their respective pulpits, the implication of an endorsement is certainly there.

While campaigning for president in 2016, Sen. Bernie Sanders packed the Tindley Temple United Methodist Church in South Philadelphia. Rev. Robert Johnson moderated the event but did not make an explicit endorsement.

“Under the Obama administration, the IRS was used to punish conservative organizations and registered Republicans throughout the United States,” said GOP strategist Charlie O’Neill. “After congressional hearings and media coverage, it seemed the IRS had thrown off its Democrat Party enforcer hat and returned to a non-partisan bureaucratic agency. Should the Biden administration allow investigations into churches like Christ Community Church, it will represent a huge step back for an already maligned agency just beginning to regain public trust.”

And with the new Manchin-Schumer spending package proposing to double the number of IRS employees in an attempt to audit more taxpayers, this may not be the best time to push the agency to take on another partisan target.

Even assuming the worst intentions of all the churches referenced above, it was not clear the IRS would act. The Johnson Amendment prohibits certain nonprofits from “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for elective public office.” But it has largely been toothless when it comes to churches.

The law still allows for voter education guides that explain candidate stances on issues, voter registration, and preaching on social and political matters–all of which could presumably steer a congregation in a direction come Election Day.

From 2008 to 2017, some 2,000 clergy deliberately challenged the Johnson Amendment with explicitly political sermons on “Pulpit Freedom Sunday.” Only one was audited and none were punished.

While sharing the same 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status as most other nonprofits, churches are very different in that government regulation of a religious institution presents dicey constitutional issues, since houses of worship are protected by the First Amendment.

If the IRS applies the Johnson Amendment to Christ Community Church in Camp Hill, it would have to explain why it is not expanding its reach to Democrat-friendly houses of worship across the state.

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A group of Republicans led by Craig Snyder, a consultant and the former chief-of-staff for the late Sen. Arlen Specter, is opposing the GOP nominee for governor, state Sen. Doug Mastriano.

And that group, which includes former Bucks County Congressman Jim Greenwood, has now formed a political action committee (PAC), Republicans4Shapiro, to raise money for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

The PAC’s website claims Mastriano, a retired Army colonel, is “radical” and “not a Republican.”

Mastriano, an outspoken, pro-Trump candidate did not respond to requests for comment.

Snyder, a one-time U.S. Senate candidate himself, acknowledged he is on the moderate-to-liberal side of the GOP, hardly a surprise given he worked for liberal Republican Arlen Specter — who ended his career as a Democrat. Polls show most Pennsylvania Republicans are sticking with Mastriano rather than following the Republicans4Shapiro lead.

“Of course, the Montgomery County Republican Committee supports the Mastriano-DelRosso ticket,” said MCRC chair Liz Preate Havey. (State Rep. Carrie DelRosso is the Republican candidate for lieutenant governor).

“Shapiro–the top cop in Pennsylvania–watched our cities be looted and rioted and did nothing,” Havey added. “He and his party are more concerned about ‘woke’ policies than they are about providing safe communities and solutions for our hard-working families who are struggling to put food on the table because of the soaring inflation and gas prices.

“Doug Mastriano will lift executive orders that have destroyed businesses in Pennsylvania, rescind job-crushing regulations that killed our energy sector in Pennsylvania, and, in Doug’s words, ‘fight like hell to fully fund the student and give kids everywhere access to fair and equal education.’”

Some area Republicans told the Delaware Valley Journal they support Mastriano, who was also endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Philadelphian Elliott Tessler said he knows some people think Mastriano is “too extreme.” But he added, “I’m going to vote for him.”

Abington resident Carol Gash was surprised to hear about the group of Republicans supporting Shapiro.

“That’s crazy,” she said. “That’s what I think. I don’t understand why they would do that.” Gash supports Mastriano’s pro-life stance. “I stand with him on that so (saying it’s too extreme) doesn’t move me one bit.”

Charlie Gerow, a Republican consultant who ran for governor, said, “These are the same [Republicans] who asked us to vote for Joe Biden. How’s that working out? The simple truth is that there are always people who, for a variety of reasons, support candidates of the opposite party.

“Undoubtedly, Sen. Mastriano will have some Democrats who support him,” said Gerow.

Snyder said, “I’m receiving a steady stream of contacts from Republicans, from rank and file voters to folks who have credentials as party stalwarts for many years, who want to join this effort.”

But he also has abundant critics within the GOP.

“As expected, the pro-Mastriano camp is calling us ‘RINOS’ and lots of unprintable epithets as well,” said Snyder.

John Featherman, a decidedly moderate Republican who ran for mayor of Philadelphia, said, “Republicans4Shapiro is less about endorsing Shapiro and more about stopping Mastriano and his right-wing, extremist views. These moderate Republicans support abortion rights, gay rights, and clean elections. Many Mastriano supporters will label them ‘RINOs’ (Republicans in Name Only) in an attempt to marginalize them. But the PAC has money and it will run commercials that will be damaging to Mastriano’s campaign.”

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The “Never Trump” Pennsylvania Republican former government officials who helped turn Pennsylvania toward Joe Biden in the 2020 election by raising $2 million and attacking former President Donald Trump across the state are flexing their political muscles again. They’re organizing to defeat state Sen. Doug Mastriano, the 2022 Republican candidate for governor.

I recently interviewed former Republican Bucks County Congressman Jim Greenwood about the plans of this group and its antagonism toward Mastriano, who they see as outside the Republican mainstream. It quickly became apparent to me that this movement against Mastriano is really targeting the former president and the Trump supporters who have become dominant in the Republican Party.

Greenwood dismissed my questions about the huge inflation that Biden has caused and blamed all of it on Russian President Vladimir Putin and other events beyond Biden’s control. We really squared off when we battled over Trump’s personality and style and the results that Trump achieved. Greenwood and his group are big admirers of the two Bush former presidents. They clearly want to return to what I would call “Country Club Republicanism” — the patrician, understated style of the Bushes and politicians like Sen. Mitt Romney.

This group ignores the fact that the Bushes gave us U.S. Supreme Court Justices like David Souter and John Roberts. That George W. Bush had to be stopped from placing Dallas real estate lawyer Harriet Miers on the court. It was only because of conservative opposition that W. relented and finally nominated the brilliant Justice Samuel Alito.

Trump has given us Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett and all three were instrumental in the recent big decisions on abortion, gun rights and religious freedom.

Just as important, during the 2020 election cycle Trump broke through with Latino and African-American men. He did it both with his economic policy and his down-to-earth style. That breakthrough has continued and is reflected in a multitude of Latino voters abandoning the “woke” politics of Democrats on a big range of cultural flashpoints.

In the latest New York Times poll, for example, Democrats and Republicans are statistically tied among Hispanics. That is a political revolution.

After my interview with Greenwood, I’m convinced that his group is so deranged by Trump that they have embraced Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro without meeting with him and projecting what he would do as governor. Greenwood admitted this, but told me his group believes Shapiro to be “thoughtful.”

I view Shapiro to be a much more intelligent, energetic, and relentless version of Gov. Tom Wolf. He is someone who will push extreme progressive policies and use his veto pen on an overwhelming basis to stymie the Republican legislature.

Even though it is still early, polling indicates it could be a close race. A USA Today/Suffolk poll conducted June 10-13 has Shapiro leading by just four points, 44 to 40 percent, within the poll’s margin of error. A June 12-19 AARP poll found just a three-point lead,  which is clearly within the 4.4 percent margin of error. It is even narrower when just looking at voters over 50 years old — the most likely voters to turn out in a midterm — where Shapiro leads by a single point.

Even though I think Mastriano is running a very narrow campaign by not campaigning in the Philadelphia area, these polls indicate Biden’s historically high inflation and crushing gas prices are weighing down Shapiro and will continue to hurt him moving forward.

Doug Mastriano is not Donald Trump, and I have a lot of problems with some of his positions. However, Shapiro is not a moderate Democrat and Greenwood and his allies yearning for the Republican Party that did not really connect with rural and working-class Americans have to be defeated along with Josh Shapiro.

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A group of Republicans and former Republicans is backing Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor, instead of GOP nominee state Sen. Doug Mastriano. They say they find Mastriano’s views too extreme.

Former Bucks County Congressman Jim Greenwood called Mastriano “unacceptable” and cited a list of reasons why he could not support his party’s nominee including that Mastriano attended the Jan. 6 rally, is pro-life, supports President Donald Trump’s position that the 2020 election was stolen, is against gun control, and is against gay marriage.

“He’s just not the kind of Republican that used to lead our party, people like Dick Thornburgh, who was a terrific governor of Pennsylvania, and (the late senators) Arlen Specter and John Heinz. I’m concerned,” said Greenwood.

“He’s a Trump acolyte and I’m a very strong never-Trumper,” he said.

Greenwood raised $2 million to support President Joe Biden in 2020, escorted Biden when he visited Bucks County, and wrote op-eds endorsing the Democrat when he was running for president.

As for Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate for Senate, Greenwood said he will “probably not” support him.

“I watched him turn himself into something he wasn’t in order to gain Trump’s endorsement,” said Greenwood.

Lita Cohen, a former state representative from Lower Merion, told Delaware Valley Journal she has not been a registered Republican since she retired in 2002.  She supports Shapiro because she believes he is “brilliant” and ethical.

“He’s unusual for someone active in politics that is his moral and ethical standards are above and beyond reproach…He doesn’t deviate from what is right and proper,” she said.

“We have an extraordinary human being, who’s a lawyer and could be making a fortune in private practice but instead he’s chosen public service jobs,” said Cohen.

Republican consultant Craig Snyder, who was Specter’s chief of staff, is leading the group of Republicans who back Shapiro.

He noted Mastriano received “just over 40 percent of the slightly more than one-third of registered Republicans who voted in the primary. In other words, a minority of a minority. He won fair and square under the rules of the current system, but that system clearly favors extremists and therefore the majority of both Republicans and Pennsylvanians do not have to walk off the cliff with this nominee.”

Asked whether he supports Oz, Snyder said, “I’m not personally endorsing Oz, but given that the Democrats also nominated someone I see as an extremist, with the candidacy of (Lt. Gov. John) Fetterman, I think lots of folks are going to split their tickets and vote Shapiro/Oz.”

And Snyder said, “Absolutely not,” when asked if he would support another run by Trump. “A second Trump term poses an unprecedented threat to American democracy,” he said.

Mastriano did not respond to a request for comment. However, he may have the last laugh, having snared Trump’s endorsement.

Conservative commentator Kathy Barnette, who ran for Senate and campaigned with Mastriano, weighed in.

“These are the same people in the Republican Party who are demanding that conservatives, who find Mehmet Oz an unconscionable choice, shut up, line up, hold their nose, and vote for Oz. They are hypocrites, to put it nicely,” said Barnette.

“Many Pennsylvanians have lived through two of the worst years of their lives under the totalitarian rule of (Gov.) Tom Wolf,” Barnette added. “Now, with Mastriano in a statistical tie for first place, we have a very real opportunity to get a leader in office who believes in preserving individual freedom, energy independence, and cheap gas. And now, like clockwork, RINO Republicans are fighting against him.”

The list of Republicans released by the Shapiro campaign includes Charlie Dent, former congressman, Lehigh County; Sandra Schultz Newman, a former Pennsylvania Supreme Court justice from Montgomery County; Denny O’Brien, Former Speaker of the House, Philadelphia County; Dave Steil, former state representative, former Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer of Blair County; Morgan Boyd, chairman, Lawrence County Board of Commissioners; and Ken Davis, former Montgomery County GOP chairman.

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It is hard to predict the impact of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision on the midterms, but Pennsylvania will be in the center ring.

It’s clear that if state Sen. Doug Mastriano wins in November and succeeds Tom Wolf as governor, Pennsylvania will move to significantly restrict abortion rights. If Attorney General Josh Shapiro succeeds Wolf, Republicans in the legislature would have to override his veto for any bills that even slightly restrict abortions to become law.

So, it was interesting to hear Mastriano’s response to the decision. He stated, “Roe v. Wade is rightly relegated to the ash heap of history. As the abortion debate returns to the states, Pennsylvania must be prepared to lead the nation in being a voice for the voiceless.”

This was expected, but he then pivoted to say, “Pennsylvanians will not be distracted by the hysterics of the left as they exploit this ruling to try to fulfill their far-left agenda. As they struggle with all-time record-high inflation, the people care deeply about the price of gas and groceries, as well as out-of-control crime and good-paying jobs –which is exactly why I will prioritize these issues as their governor.”

This is precisely what Mastriano should be saying.

People see skyrocketing food and energy prices every day. On Monday, June 27, the Wall Street Journal reported that inflation is so bad that gas stations now hold up to $175 of your money when you swipe your credit or debit card. Payment networks can lift the hold once the total of gas purchased is determined, but they report holds can take hours or longer to settle. This raises the risk of overdraft penalties if you use a debit card and the potential of eating up credit limits if you use a credit card.

Shapiro doesn’t talk about any of this. This past weekend he was the star at several rallies that aimed to make people believe that the Supreme Court decision had changed abortion rights in Pennsylvania. It is up to Mastriano to stay on message and repeatedly outline how he would open up Pennsylvania’s energy sources and create jobs.

Media coverage will have a lot to do with how Pennsylvania races play out. I strongly object to the Bucks County Courier Times coverage of a rally by abortion-rights advocates in front of the offices of Bucks County Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick. First, the paper labeled Fitzpatrick as anti-abortion. They did not label Democrat Ashley Ehasz, his opponent in the November election, as pro-abortion.

Ehasz accused Fitzpatrick of “screwing over” a lot of women in the district due to his abortion stance.

In the wake of the Roe decision, The Philadelphia Inquirer said that Democrats would need to flip twelve seats to gain control of the state House in Harrisburg. They speculate that the Democrats’ best chances are in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Harrisburg and Pittsburgh.

I predict the Inquirer will profile unending numbers of suburban women who usually vote for Republicans to quote them saying this abortion decision is sending them into the voting column of the Democratic Party.

One wild card that might surface to affect the Pennsylvania elections could be the impeachment proceedings against Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. This week Republicans will choose a select committee of three Republicans and two Democrats to begin an investigation of Krasner.

I think this issue could surface in the governor’s race. Josh Shapiro has been given expanded power to oversee Krasner’s cases by the legislature. He has chosen not to exercise this power and Philadelphia is a lot worse for that decision.

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No matter your views on abortion, today is a day when the U.S. Supreme Court changed history with its Dobbs ruling. And political leaders from Delaware Valley and in races for state office are speaking out about what the historic decision means for Pennsylvania.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro tweeted: “This is a devastating day in America. A woman’s right to choose now depends on the state in which she lives, and the decision will be made by our next Governor. Doug Mastriano will ban abortion with no exceptions. I will keep abortion legal.”

Writing as attorney general, Shapiro also sent this email: “The Dobbs decision will go down as a shameful moment for our country and for the Court. Today, five Supreme Court Justices upended fifty years of settled law and subjected the health and private lives of millions of American women to the whims of politicians. As a result of today’s decision, every American’s personal freedoms now depend on the state in which they live. Here in Pennsylvania, decisions about your bodies will now be left to elected officials in Harrisburg– giving those politicians more power than women in our commonwealth.”

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor, told the Delaware Valley Journal, “Roe v. Wade is rightly relegated to the ash heap of history. As the abortion debate returns to the states, Pennsylvania must be prepared to lead the nation in being a voice for the voiceless.

“While this decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a triumph for innocent life, it must not take our focus away from the key issues facing Pennsylvania families.

“Pennsylvanians will not be distracted by the hysterics of the left as they exploit this ruling to try to fulfill their far-left agenda,” Mastriano continued, “as they struggle with all-time record-high inflation, the price of gas and groceries, as well as out-of-control crime and good-paying jobs – which is exactly why I will prioritize these issues as their governor,” Mastriano said.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Dr. Memhet Oz tweeted: “The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade is to many considered controversial. I respect those with a different view, but as a heart surgeon I’ve held the smallest of human hearts in the palm of my hand, and I will defend the sanctity of life. I am relieved that protecting the lives of America’s unborn children will once again be decided by the people through their elected representatives. As we lift up life, we must focus on the needs of mothers and children, for whom this decision can be the greatest gift of all.”

Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democrat running for Senate, tweeted, “In Pennsylvania, the Governor’s pen will either protect abortion rights or eliminate them. The stakes can’t be any higher. We MUST elect @JoshShapiroPA He has been an absolute advocate of protecting abortion rights here in Pennsylvania. There is too much on the line.”

And in a statement, Fetterman said, “Deciding how and when to become a mother is a decision that should always be made by a woman and her doctor—not politicians. If there were any doubts left about what’s at stake in this race, it became crystal clear today. The right to an abortion will be on the ballot this November in Pennsylvania.  I will protect abortion rights. Dr. Oz will take them away. It’s that simple.”

How will the decision impact November’s election?

“I think the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe and Casey will undoubtedly become an important part of the fall campaign messaging,” said Berwood A. Yost, director of the Floyd Institute for Public Policy and the Center for Opinion Research at Franklin & Marshall College. “The abortion decision will be a catalyst for some voters, as will the recent decision on guns. In fact, the 2022 midterms are going to have many things for voters to think about, including their feelings about the economy, the direction of the state, and the state’s electoral procedures to name just a few others.

“The most important result of the recent Supreme Court decisions, from a political standpoint, is that they give Democratic candidates something to talk about other than the economy and the president’s performance in office, which most voters don’t feel good about,” said Yost. “It allows them to motivate their base voters and perhaps remind those with weak party attachments about what the consequences of their choice, or failure to choose, might be.”

Christopher P. Borick, political science professor and director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said the Supreme Court’s decision could be very important for the Pennsylvania governor’s race.

Other elected officials also weighed in.

“Today’s decision upends almost a half-century of legal precedent and rips away a constitutional right that generations of women have known their entire lives. This dangerous ruling won’t end abortions in this country, but it will put women’s lives at risk,” said U.S. Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) via Twitter.

And U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) tweeted, “The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization restores the American people’s ability to determine abortion laws through their elected representatives, as the Constitution requires. Precedents that are wrongly decided should be overturned, just as Brown v. Board of Education was right to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson. This ruling is a win for the unborn, the Constitution, and democratic governance.”

“I was 13 when Roe became law of the land. 50 years later an extreme right-wing court has now ended the constitutional right to abortion – politicians can now control a women’s body. I have tears of anger — girls like my 10-year-old granddaughter have less rights than me at 13,” tweeted U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Montgomery).

Congresswoman Mary Gay Scanlon (D-Delaware/Philadelphia) called the decision “unprecedented” and said it “will have a devastating impact across our country. It is rare in the United States for millions of Americans to wake up with fewer rights than they had the day before, but that is precisely what the court has done here.”

She went on to call it “misguided” and “dangerous.”

U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-Chester/Berks) tweeted: “In less than 24 hours, the SCOTUS has ruled that states do NOT have the right to enact measures to protect from gun violence but simultaneously DO have the right to restrict a woman’s right to choose. This isn’t about state’s rights—it’s about advancing a political agenda.”

Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Bucks) said, “As state legislatures across America begin to consider legislation on this extremely sensitive topic in response to today’s Supreme Court decision in Dobbs, I urge all state legislatures to always start from a place of empathy and compassion. Any legislative consideration must start with the process of seeing the world through other people’s eyes, and walking the world in other people’s shoes.

“Any legislative consideration must always seek to achieve bipartisan consensus that both respects a woman’s privacy and autonomy, and also respects the sanctity of human life. These principles are not mutually exclusive; both can and must be achieved…At the core of our democracy must always be the goal of building bridges, not driving wedges.”

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