DV Journal

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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If the latest polls are any indication, Republicans Doug Mastriano and Dr. Mehmet Oz have their work cut out for them.

A USA Today/Suffolk poll released Wednesday showed they are trailing Democrats Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman in the race for Pennsylvania governor and U.S. Senator.

In the poll of 500 likely voters, Attorney General Shapiro led Mastriano, a state senator from Franklin County, 44 to 40 percent. Minor party candidates totaled 3 percent and 13 percent were undecided. The poll has a 4.4 margin of error.

Oz tallied at 37 percent and Fetterman, now serving as lieutenant governor, at 46 percent.  Minor party candidates came in at 16 percent and 13 percent were undecided.

And 26 percent of the voters thought the economy was the most important issue, followed by gun control. And just as in the rest of the country, President Joe Biden’s approval rating is underwater in Pennsylvania.

Some 38 percent approved Biden’s job performance while 54 percent disapproved.

In 2018, 48 percent of Pennsylvania voters were registered as Democrats and 40 percent were Republicans. Today, the Democratic Party registration advantage has been reduced to 45 percent-41 percent among active voters, said David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center.

“Even with Democratic party registration dwindling in Pennsylvania, both Fetterman and Shapiro are adopting a more populist approach to midterm voters and winning independents,” Paleologos said. “Voters say they are unhappy with the economy in Pennsylvania and President Biden’s job approval, yet these particular Democrats are threading the needle thus far.”

Robin Kolodny, chair of the political science department at Temple University, thinks voters have a lot of information about the candidates already.

“What these polls show is that most Pennsylvanians are already familiar with the candidates and have formed opinions about them,” she said.  “The campaigns still have months to go to try to change voters’ minds, but these early polls underscore how competitive both races will be.”

However, Liz Preate Havey, who chairs the Montgomery County Republicans, believes the Republicans will prevail this year.

“I think people will vote their pocketbook,” said Havey. “There’s a lot of energy upset and anger against the Democrats in general and, according to polls, independents are dramatically breaking for Republicans two and three to one at this point.”

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Speaking at the AFL-CIO Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on Tuesday, President Biden pushed the blame for inflation on Republicans, including record-high gas prices.

Biden said he has a plan to bring down inflation, now at a 40-year high of 8.6 percent, and record-high gas prices, which are up more than $2.30 a gallon since Biden took office. But Republicans won’t let him execute it, he said.

“Under my plan for the economy, we made extraordinary progress, and put America in a position to tackle a worldwide problem that’s worse everywhere but here: inflation,” Biden said.

“The problem is, Republicans in Congress are doing everything they can to stop my plans to bring down costs on ordinary families,” Biden added. “That’s why my plan is not finished, and the results aren’t finished either.”

While the president was surrounded by prominent Democrats, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor, was noticeably absent. Across the country, Democrats campaigning in swing states have been less-than-enthusiastic about campaigning with the unpopular incumbent as the midterms approach.

In Colorado, Sen. Michael Bennet said he “hadn’t really thought about it” when asked if he’d welcome President Biden to join him on the campaign trail. Earlier this year, vulnerable Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) was also non-committal. “I’m focused on, right now, on things Arizonans care about, like the price of gasoline and groceries,” he said.

A spokesman for the Republican Governors Association (RGA) accused Shapiro of trying to hide his support for the president.

“Joe Biden’s disastrous policies have created an unsafe and unsustainable environment for Pennsylvania families, and Josh Shapiro has backed him the entire way,” said RGA spokesman Chris Gustafson. “Now that Biden is campaigning in the Keystone State, Shapiro failed to show up in support. Is Shapiro trying to avoid Biden or did convenient ‘scheduling conflicts’ land Shapiro far away from Biden once again?”

Shapiro’s spokeswoman says it was just a case of bad timing.

Shapiro had a previous commitment in Pittsburgh, spokeswoman Molly Stieber said. Shapiro was with the “president in April at the White House for the President’s announcement on closing the ghost gun loophole and was with him in Philadelphia during his last visit,” she noted.

During his speech, Biden urged union members to vote for Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate.

Union membership has dwindled over the years, and with it union power. Only 10.3 percent of the U.S. workforce was represented by a union in 2021, down from more than 30 percent in the 1950s. The numbers are even lower for private-sector employees, where union membership has fallen to 6.1 percent in 2021 from 16.8 percent in 1983, according to Reuters.

And while the president was in Philadelphia talking up union jobs, his administration back in Washington was floating the idea of ending some of the tariffs on Chinese goods put in place by the Trump administration.

“We have said from the beginning, some Trump tariffs were irresponsible, and did not advance our economic or national security and instead raise costs for families and businesses,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told the press traveling with Biden Tuesday.

Republicans were unimpressed.

“Biden talks about his Scranton roots, but he couldn’t care less about the struggles hardworking Pennsylvanians face today,” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said. “Soaring inflation, record gas prices, and a baby formula shortage are only a few of the crises he’s dealt Keystone State families. Biden’s visit will only serve as a burden for down-ballot Democrats, as Pennsylvania voters will hold him accountable for his failures in November.”

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A new and potentially influential force is emerging in Republican primaries across the country.

Democrats.

Days before Pennsylvania Republicans went to the polls to pick their nominee for governor, Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro—who was running unopposed—ran TV ads focused on far-right, underfunded GOP candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano. They allegedly “attacked” the fringe candidate by reminding potential primary voters he is a Trump-friendly conservative who embraced the debunked theory that the 2020 presidential election was stolen.

Indeed, just before the primary, Trump endorsed Mastriano.

Politico reported, “Shapiro was so sure Mastriano would be the easiest Republican to beat that he aired an ad designed to elevate Mastriano in the primary.”

It worked. Mastriano won the Republican nomination and Shapiro is considered a likely shoo-in.

Now the tactic is being repeated in GOP primaries across the country.

In California two weeks later, the Democrats’ House Majority PAC ran an ad promoting GOP congressional candidate Chris Mathys, who the HuffPost calls “a right-wing challenger taking on Rep. David Valadao, a more moderate Republican running in California’s 22nd Congressional District.”

It doesn’t appear to have worked. While California is still counting votes, Valadao has a solid lead over Mathys for the second slot in the state’s jungle primary.

In Colorado, Democrats are spending more than $1 million on ads promoting another candidate in the mold of Mastriano, right-winger Ron Hanks, who also attended the January 6 rally that evolved into a riot at the U.S. Capitol. Hanks has raised less than $40,000 and has not aired a single TV ad of his own in the GOP U.S. Senate primary.

“In supposedly ‘blue’ Colorado, Democrats are reportedly dumping 7-figures into the Republican Senate primary to try and stir up drama,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee said in a release. “Just goes to show you how vulnerable Michael Bennet is in a state that Joe Biden won by more than 13 points.”

In Illinois, which truly is deep blue, the Democratic Governors Association has reportedly spent $15 million boosting the candidacy of a very conservative candidate, state Sen. Darren Bailey, over a more mainstream candidate, Richard Irvin. This is particularly significant in Illinois, which has a tradition of electing moderate Republicans. But according to the latest poll, Bailey has surged past Irvin, 32-17 percent.

And in South Carolina, Congressman Tom Rice (SC-7) was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in 2021. He faces a stiff challenge in the June 14 GOP primary from Trump-endorsed challenger state Rep. Russell Fry. A frequent  Democratic donor is urging Palmetto State Democrats to skip voting in their party’s contested primaries to cross over and vote for Rice next Tuesday. (South Carolina has open primaries and no party registration.)

With Biden hitting a new record low approval rating—dropping below 40 percent approval in the Real Clear Politics average—and inflation hitting a 40-year record of 8.6 percent in May, Democrats are in danger from facing any competent candidate. Why wouldn’t they spend money to keep the strongest candidates off the GOP’s November ballot?

“It’s a roundabout way of saying, ‘We think the most conservative candidate is the weakest candidate,'” Jessica Taylor with The Cook Political Report told NBC News. “These are the kinds of ads these far-right candidates would run if they had money.”

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Shapiro’s campaign denies it was trying to pick its preferred opponent.

“For weeks before the primary election both public and private polling indicated that Doug Mastriano was poised to become the Republican nominee, and those predictions were confirmed,” said campaign spokesman Will Simmons. “The contrast in this race could not be more clear—and that’s why our campaign was prepared to start the general election early and make sure Pennsylvanians know Mastriano’s real record.”

“Mastriano,” Simmons added, “is a dangerous extremist.”

If so, critics ask, then why would Shapiro run ads boosting his campaign?

“With the failed record and underwater ratings Democrats are carrying into the general election, it’s no surprise they’re grasping for straws. While Doug Mastriano had a decisive win and Republican enthusiasm is building toward November, shady Shapiro has been doomed from the start, said  Republican National Committee spokesperson Rachel Lee.

Mastriano did not respond to a request for a comment on this story, but he did seem pleased by Shapiro’s efforts at the time.

“I’m going to have to send him a thank you card,” Mastriano told Lancaster Online.

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After being in the ring for months with all the candidates, countless surrogates, and many election officials, I have come to some clear conclusions about what needs to be done on the Republican side in races for the U.S. Senate and governor in Pennsylvania.

The first thing that needs to be fixed is the process for counting votes in Pennsylvania races. We have become the laughingstock of the nation. Urgency is not the watchword of the people in charge of counting votes in most counties. I realize that Pennsylvania Act 77, which paved the way for the mail-in ballot nonsense, needs to be repealed. I know that Josh Shapiro, the Democratic Party nominee for governor, would veto any attempt to rid us of this current cumbersome and possibly corrupt system.

So, we must allow counties to count mail-in ballots a few days before Election Day. But we should also tighten the deadlines that they face to get all votes counted. For example, the current deadline of getting votes counted in the recount vote process of June 7 for the May 17 primary is offensive.

Each day that goes by without a resolution weakens confidence in the validity of our elections.

Second, I believe it is time for Dave McCormick to drop all the lawsuits he has filed arguing that mail-in votes received without a date written on the envelope by the voter should be counted. I have grown to respect and like McCormick during our nearly weekly interviews over the course of the campaign. But his lawsuits following a Commonwealth court’s ruling saying that mail-in ballots without a date should be counted are playing right into the hands of people like national Democratic lawyer Marc Elias who are trying to weaken any restrictions on the counting of mail-in ballots.

I understand McCormick fought a very hard race against Dr. Oz and spent probably $10 to $12 million of his own money, but the recount should be his last action in this election. I’d like to see him named chairman of the Pennsylvania GOP and I’d like to see him become the nominee for the upcoming Senate race against Sen. Bob Casey, Jr. I believe Casey has essentially coasted on the family name and is very beatable.

It is also clear to me that election integrity is a critical issue with Pennsylvania voters. However, I don’t think the Republican nominee for governor state Sen. Doug Mastriano, is approaching it in the right way. His rantings about voting machine conspiracies and his suggestion that as governor he could overturn election results in the 2024 presidential race are not a statewide winning strategy. I like that he is talking about the importance of the Secretary of State’s Office in running elections and I’d like to hear him flesh out the types of people that he would consider for the office.

I’d also like to see Mastriano engage with more media outlets rather than just that small number that seem to amplify some of his more radical views. He refuses to come on my show–and much of talk radio in the state–apparently because he can’t any kind of challenge even from conservative hosts.

His decision to hang up the phone during an interview with DelawareValleyJournal.com is a prime example of a strategy that will fail.

The bottom line is I think Dr. Oz is the presumptive Republican nominee for the Senate and I think he can beat John Fetterman. Doug Mastriano can beat Josh Shapiro, but he must make some big–but doable–changes.

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On the evening of the primary election, the Democratic nominee for governor Josh Shapiro said of his Republican opponent, Doug Mastriano: “Republicans just nominated a dangerous extremist who wants to take away our freedoms.”

The following day, in a text message to supporters, Shapiro said Mastriano was “anti-democracy.”

If those things are true, does it say something about Shapiro that his campaign purposely boosted Mastriano’s chances of becoming the GOP nominee? How dangerous must one be before the Shapiro campaign would flinch at elevating that person?

Charles C. Cooke at National Review makes the case.

“I do not want to hear a single thing from the Democratic Party about the ‘threat’ that Doug Mastriano presents to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, or to the republic in general,” Cooke wrote. “I am, from this moment on, not remotely interested in that case. Why not? Because the Democratic Party clearly doesn’t believe a word of it. When one truly believes that a given candidate is a threat, one doesn’t ‘send out mailers boosting him,’ or spend $840,000 on television advertisements designed to improve his standing.”

The Shapiro campaign did not address the question in a straightforward manner when contacted for comment by Broad + Liberty.

“For weeks before the primary election, both public and private polling indicated that Doug Mastriano was poised to become the Republican nominee, and those predictions were confirmed last night,” said Will Simmons, spokesperson for the Shapiro campaign.

“The contrast in this race could not be more clear — and that’s why our campaign was prepared to start the general election early and make sure Pennsylvanians know Mastriano’s real record,” Simmons added. “Mastriano is a dangerous extremist who wants to criminalize and outlaw abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or when the life of the mother is at risk. He wants to restrict the right to vote and continues to spread conspiracy theories, and he would destroy the union way of life for hard working Pennsylvanians.”

About a week before the primary election, regional and national news outlets highlighted a television ad from the Shapiro campaign that — while running against Mastriano — seemed cleverly worded and positioned to boost Mastriano’s credentials with undecided Republicans.

“Josh Shapiro, the Democratic attorney general of Pennsylvania, is employing a familiar but risky tactic in that state’s governor’s race: He’s paying for a TV ad that appears intended to help one of his opponents in the Republican primary,” the New York Times reported on May 13.

The ad buy from Shaprio was even more important given that the Mastriano campaign had not run much of a television campaign because its budget was much smaller than others.

At least one progressive views it the way Cooke does.

“[T]he ethics are different this time around,” wrote columnist Will Bunch in the Inquirer.

“Mastriano isn’t just a bad candidate (cough, cough Tom Corbett), or even a historically bad one. He is a uniquely dangerous man who — if elected this year in a “wave election” where Republicans win all over the place — would have the legislative support to undo our basic rights and rip the fading fabric of our democracy in the very state where these ideas were forged in 1776 and 1787.”

This article first appeared in Broad and Liberty.