Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) won the state’s governor race, according to projections.
Shapiro defeated Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, who was backed by former President Donald Trump.
Mastriano beat out former Rep. Lou Barletta (R-PA) for the Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial primary, and many Republicans across the state have voiced concerns about Mastriano’s record and electability.
Breitbart News’s John Binder laid out some of the issues regarding Mastriano’s candidacy:
- Mastriano was Shapiro’s preferred candidate.
- Many Pennsylvania swing voters said they would vote for Shapiro over Mastriano.
- Mastriano fractures the unity in the state Republican Party.
- Mastriano called for repealing medical privacy laws during the 2020 coronavirus lockdowns.
- Mastriano may have committed campaign finance violations.
- Mastriano supported Act 77, which Gov. Tom Wolf (D) signed into law. The law spurned many of the election issues facing the state.
Mastriano smeared Breitbart News:
In December 2021, following a report published by Breitbart News noting questions surrounding Mastriano’s campaign finances, the retired U.S. Army Colonel took to local talk radio to smear Breitbart News, Hannah Bleau, the reporter who wrote the piece, and her Christian faith.
“… shame on her,” Mastriano said. “She professes on her Twitter page to be a Christian. If that is so, I can’t judge her heart here … that girl is very questionable and she is compromising her integrity.”
Mastriano then accused Breitbart News of sending a request for comment to his campaign two to three hours before publishing the report regarding the campaign finance concerns.
After reviewing the communications, Breitbart News reported that a request for comment had been sent to Mastriano’s communications director, Joshua Hermann, who responded to the request within hours with a statement.
That statement was included, in full, in the report and the report was not published until a week later, indicating that Mastriano’s claims that he was blindsided by Breitbart News are inaccurate.
Follow coverage of the 2022 midterm elections on Breitbart News.
Sean Moran is a congressional reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.