Trump-backed Mastriano wins in Pennsylvania
In senate primary races, Fetterman wins, Oz in tight contest
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Doug Mastriano, a state senator who secured a late endorsement from Donald Trump and has trumpeted the former president’s lies about nonexistent, widespread voter fraud costing him the 2020 election, won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania’s open governor’s office on Tuesday.
Mastriano’s victory boosts Trump’s winning record in major Republican primaries around the country. But it also raises immediate questions about whether Mastriano, who was outside the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 when a mob overran it in a deadly insurrection, can attract enough moderate swing voters to prevail in November’s general election.
Mastriano, a retired Army colonel, will face Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who was unopposed in his primary.
“They like to call people who stand on the Constitution far and extreme. I repudiate that. That is crap. That is absolutely not true,” Mastrano said. “Actually, their party … they’ve gone extreme.”
In another of the night’s closely watched races, John Fetterman, days after a stroke sent him to the hospital, easily won Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate primary — notching a major victory for his party’s left flank.
Fetterman’s opponent in the fall wasn’t yet clear as Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate contest was too early to call. Celebrity heart surgeon Mehmet Oz, former hedge fund CEO David McCormick and commentator Kathy Barnette were all vying for the party’s nomination. Oz is the preferred candidate of Trump, who has sought to wield the power of his endorsement to lift his loyalists and reshape the GOP.
Despite Trump’s backing, some conservative voters have been suspicious of the ideological leanings of Oz, who gained fame as a frequent guest on Oprah Winfrey’s talk show. Oz has spent much of the campaign in a heated fight with McCormick.
That’s allowed commentator Barnette to emerge in the final days of the primary as a conservative alternative to both Oz and McCormick. Should she win the primary and general election, Barnette would be the first Black Republican woman elected to the U.S. Senate.
Trump, who has held campaignstyle rallies with Oz, insists he is the best candidate to keep the Senate seat in Republican hands in the fall. Given his level of involvement in the race, a loss would be a notable setback for the former president.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina first-term U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn lost his Republican primary race Tuesday to state Sen. Chuck Edwards, after the pro-Donald Trump firebrand’s personal and political blunders translated into voter unhappiness.
Cawthorn called Edwards to concede the 11th Congressional District primary to Edwards, Cawthorn campaign spokesperson Luke Ball told The Associated Press. The AP later called the race for Edwards over Cawthorn and six other Republican candidates.
“Against all odds, we fought hard to win this election and provide clear conservative leadership for the mountains,” Edwards said in a news release. “Now, we will harness this energy, and come together as a party.”