Failed bid to become GOP gubernatorial nominee was Barletta’s last campaign
Lou Barletta’s most recent run for public office will be his last.
The former Hazleton councilman, mayor and congressman said Wednesday that he has no intention of running again for an elected position.
“I walked off the political stage last night for good,” the 66-yearold Barletta said Wednesday after finishing behind state Sen. Doug Mastriano in the Republican gubernatorial primary. “I have no regrets.
“It’s time to spend time with my daughters and grandkids. I spent a lot of time between serving in office and growing our business. When we first started [the business], the kids were small. I finally have time to give them.”
Barletta was upbeat when discussing his future, saying that he’ll remain active in politics and work to improve his golf swing.
“Maybe I’ll get better,” he said with a chuckle. “I’m going to put my suits away and take out some golf shorts and short- sleeve shirts and enjoy life.”
As of Wednesday afternoon Mastriano had 44.12% of the vote to Barletta’s 20.39%, according to tallies posted by the Pennsylvania Department of State.
Former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain finished third in the governor’s race with 15.64%, while Delaware County businessman Dave White had 9.48%. Five other Republican gubernatorial candidates who were listed on the ballot finished with 4% of the vote or less.
Barletta said he’ll back Mastriano in November when he faces Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a Democrat who ran unopposed in the primary.
“[Mastriano] is not my opponent any more,” Barletta said. “He’s our nominee. I will back him. I definitely don’t want to see Josh Shapiro become our governor.”
What led to his loss?
Barletta believes a number of issues contributed to the outcome Tuesday, including money that was invested in a race and the Republican party’s “failure” to narrow the candidate pool to two; political advertisements that Shapiro ran that painted Mastriano as former President Donald Trump’s candidate before Trump got involved; Mastriano performing stronger than Barletta’s camp anticipated in central and western Pennsylvania; and voters viewing the flood of endorsements Barletta received ahead of the primary as “the establishment getting behind Lou Barletta.”
Barletta said that despite his history of supporting Trump he was disappointed to learn the former president endorsed Mastriano three days before the election.
The former Hazleton mayor said he’s aware of reports that Trump was critical of his campaign for U.S. Senate in 2018 but believes it was not necessary for the president to back a candidate when polls showed from the beginning that the race was essentially between two candidates.“People
are really angry at that,” Barletta said of Trump’s endorsement. “A lot said they aren’t going to support him again for the reason he did turn on me.”
Shapiro’s television ads and mailers to Republicans gave Mastriano an even larger boost, Barletta contends.
“I think the Shapiro ads really had more effect than the Trump endorsement,” he said. “This was a message to the pro-Trump voter. He really helped make Mastriano the Trump candidate before Trump even got involved.”
Mastriano’s call for election integrity also resonated with voters, Barletta said.
“Mastriano did much better in the ‘T’ part of Pennsylvania than we anticipated him doing,” Barletta said. “When you add Shapiro propping him up as a Trump guy and Trump coming in to endorse him, I think those numbers in the last few days really boosted him.”
Rather than pouring millions of dollars into the race, Barletta said that the state party, elected officials and conservative groups would’ve better served the party by narrowing the race to the two front-runners.
“Every single poll showed this was a two-man race between myself and Mastriano,” Barletta said. “Had the field been narrowed down to the top two candidates in the polls, the $25 million spent could’ve been spent on one candidate in a two-man race. I think the polls would’ve been different and the results would’ve been different.”