The Mastriano Pileup in the Pennsylvania Elections - WSJ Editorial [View all]

President Trump won the Republican primary in 2016 by taking roughly a third of the vote, while his squabbling opponents from the traditional GOP split the rest. Next week Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano might pull off the same trick in the primary for Governor, and Democrats couldn’t be happier to help him do it.

Mr. Mastriano is a long shot in November. He’s a 2020 stolen-election theorist who wants to end Pennsylvania’s contracts with “compromised voting machine companies.” He reportedly organized buses to take people to Mr. Trump’s rally on Jan. 6, 2021. Although he said he left when the rioting began, the Philadelphia Inquirer says video “appears to show Mastriano and his wife walking through breached police barricades.” Last month he spoke at an event featuring QAnon nonsense.

A poll by Fox News last week put Mr. Mastriano at 29% support among Republican primary voters. That’s a plurality only because below him there’s an eight-car pileup. Former Rep. Lou Barletta was at 17%, former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain at 13%, businessman Dave White at 11%, and state Senate leader Jake Corman at 5%. Four others were in single digits. GOP bigwigs are now frantically trying to unite those factions by getting unviable candidates to drop out and endorse a consensus pick.

This will probably work about as well as it did in 2016 against Mr. Trump, which is to say, it won’t. It’s hard for any candidate to throw in the towel after putting in months of sweat and asking donors to contribute. Mr. Barletta is in second, so he’s unlikely to quit. Mr. McSwain is anti-endorsed by Mr. Trump, who called the former U.S. Attorney a “coward” for doing “absolutely nothing” on voter fraud. “Bill McSwain is staying in the race,” his team said Tuesday. Mr. White has invested millions of his own money, which might be sunk cost, but he understandably wants to get to primary day. Mr. Corman is scheduled Thursday to join Mr. Barletta for a “major announcement,” but even if he tries to shift all his support, it’s only 5%, not enough to make the difference on its own.

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If Republicans go for it, Tuesday’s primary could be the start of another Trumpian backfire. Pennsylvania Republicans want voting reforms, and the GOP state Legislature passed some that were promptly vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. If primary voters want those bills signed, their job is to pick a conservative who can win the general election. A recent poll by Osage Research said Pennsylvania swing voters preferred a Republican Governor, 42% to 39%. But asked about a race between (likely Democratic nominee Attorney General) Mr. Shapiro and Mr. Mastriano, the Democrat was up 49% to 41%. The pollster said it involved “Mastriano losing an astounding 23% of the swing Republicans to Shapiro. With Mr. Mastriano at the top of the ticket, many Republicans fear a washout could also cost them control of the Legislature or the crucial Senate seat now held by Republican Pat Toomey, who is retiring.


https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-doug-mastriano-pileup-in-pennsylvania-governor-election-republicans-democrats-donald-trump-11652301140 (subscription)