Former President Trump is leaning strongly towards endorsing the highly controversial Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano for governor, according to three sources familiar with his private deliberations.
Why it matters: Mastriano — who was at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — has gone beyond trying to help Trump overturn the 2020 election; he’s proposed defying Pennsylvania’s popular vote outcome and spoke at an event last month promoting QAnon conspiracies.
What we’re watching: Democrats are salivating because they see him as beatable in a general election even in a political environment that’s extremely favorable to Republicans. Leading Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro even ran an ad highlighting Mastriano in the primary contest.
- With time running out before Tuesday’s primaries, Republicans are panicking about the prospect of such a polarizing candidate with limited appeal leading the ticket, and are mounting a last-ditch effort to stop him, as Politico first reported.
- Others in the Republican gubernatorial contest include former Rep. Lou Barletta, former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain, and businessman Dave White.
Flashback: In 2016, then-candidate Trump won Pennsylvania by after his more traditional Republican opponents split the remainder of the GOP vote.
Between the lines: Trump is worried about his endorsed Senate candidate Dr. Oz losing, according to two sources familiar with the situation, so his endorsement of Mastriano could be a way of hedging his bets on Tuesday.
- Republicans are also belatedly panicking over the previously unimaginable prospect that Kathy Barnette could win their party’s nomination for the open Senate seat in Pennsylvania, as Axios reported.
Source: https://www.axios.com/2022/05/13/trump-endorsing-doug-mastriano-governor
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The Article Was Written/Published By: Jonathan Swan
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