Trump’s man triumphs in Pennsylvania primary race
Ultra-conservative ex-army colonel present at 2021 Capitol riot defies warning he is ‘too extreme’ a choice
A CANDIDATE backed by Donald Trump, who was at the US Capitol when it was attacked on Jan 6, 2021 has won the race to be the Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania.
Doug Mastriano, 58, a vocal denier of the results of the 2020 presidential election, cruised to victory by 24 percentage points, despite senior Republicans warning that he was “too extreme” to win against a Democrat opponent in November.
Mr Trump has made denial of the 2020 result a key test of loyalty among those he is endorsing in Republican primaries ahead of the midterm elections in November. Some of his candidates surged as primary voters went to the polls in several states on Tuesday.
In addition to Mr Mastriano, the former president’s support lifted the littleknown Ted Budd to win the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in North Carolina.
On Jan 6, 2021, Mr Budd, a sitting congressman, voted not to certify the results of the 2020 election.
Meanwhile, the most high-profile candidate backed by Mr Trump – television celebrity Dr Mehmet Oz – appeared to be heading to a recount in a race for the Republican nomination for a Senate seat in Pennsylvania.
Dr Oz was tied with mainstream Republican candidate Dave Mccormick, a former hedge fund chief executive, with only a small percentage of votes to be counted.
That was partly due to Dr Oz having lost some support to an insurgent campaign by political commentator Kathy Barnette, a leading denier of the 2020 presidential election result.
Mr Trump, on his social media platform Truth Social, said Ms Barnette “took many votes away from Oz,” but claimed, “Despite all of this, Oz won!” The results were encouraging for Mr Trump, and came two weeks after he successfully backed author JD Vance to be a Republican candidate for the Senate in Ohio.
Mr Mastriano, a retired army colonel and local politician, has said he would not have certified Joe Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania if he had been governor in 2020.
He became a key figure in Mr Trump’s attempts to overturn the result in the crucial state, and worked closely with his legal team. That included organising buses to take supporters of Mr Trump to Washington, DC on Jan 6 for the “Stop the Steal” rally.
Mr Mastriano was outside the Capitol when it was stormed.
If he were to win the governorship, he would have the power to appoint Pennsylvania’s secretary of state, the official who would oversee the 2024 election.
It raised the prospect he could refuse to accept a win by a Democrat presidential candidate.
Mr Mastriano campaigned on a platform
‘They like to call people who stand on the Constitution far-right extreme. I repudiate that. That is c--p’
of denying the 2020 result, along with promoting Christian nationalism, and attacking pandemic restrictions.
In his victory speech he lambasted Democrats for closing schools throughout the pandemic.
He added: “They like to call people who stand on the Constitution far-right extreme. I repudiate that. That is c--p. Actually their party, which the media stands for and advocates for – they’ve gone extreme.”
He vowed to immediately ban critical race theory in schools, and has also proposed banning abortion after six weeks, and eliminating property taxes.
In North Carolina, Mr Trump’s backing failed to save Madison Cawthorn, 26, the youngest member of Congress, who has been the subject of a series of scandals. Mr Trump had urged voters to “give Madison a second chance” but he lost his primary.