Mastriano: ‘The movement’s out there’
The last time that a defeated candidate for governor of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania waited four years for a second chance that led to victory was 55 years ago.
In 1966, Milton Shapp was defeated by Raymond P. Shafer by six percentage points in the Democrat’s quest to take the governor’s mansion. Four years later, Shapp became the first Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, routing Raymond J. Broderick by 13 points.
Fast forward to 2025 and Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano finds himself in a similar position to Shapp.
Mastriano was defeated by current Gov. Josh Shapiro by 15 points in 2022, but has found lessons he can take away from the loss as he ponders another run.
The Franklin County Republican received more votes than any other losing candidate in the state’s gubernatorial history with 2,238,477. Full disclosure – Shapiro received more votes than any winner in the state’s history with 3,031,137.
And he says that his team is ready to go – once he gives the go-ahead.
“In effect, we have an exploratory committee out there. We have our team working. We have our team in all 67 counties still standing by,” he said in an interview with NewsTalk 103.7 FM. “I garnered the most votes, 2.2 million than any other Republican gubernatorial candidate since 1962, second highest in our state’s history. The movement’s out there. It’s real.”
Mastriano, who defeated eight challengers for the GOP nomination in 2022, did so without the support of the state’s Republican committee, who opted to sit on the sidelines. For this election cycle, it appears that the PA GOP, headed by state Sen. Greg Rothman (R-Cumberland/Dauphin/Perry), plans to place its thumb on the scale and endorse a candidate, possibly as early as September.
“I know the establishment still has its disdain for the grassroots and a grassroots candidate. People are eager for an announcement. What the state party does, the state party is eager to lock somebody in, like they did with [Dave] McCormick, and kind of clear the field. They’re not going to clear the field with me. I’ll decide when the time is right.
“I’m not playing any games here. I just don’t know yet. If I’m dissatisfied with what’s going on at the state level, we’ll get in and regardless of party endorsement, and the state party would not give me the endorsement, I can guarantee you that. There’s still too many insiders there playing games, but we have the grassroots. There’ll be a fight. We’ll win the primary. No matter who they select and whoever they coordinate, we’ll win it. We’ll clear the field, and it’ll be their second chance to get on board.”
Mastriano is taking credit for the election of McCormick and Rothman to their posts.
“We got Senator McCormick, I say with confidence, we got him elected. He could not have won without my endorsement and without the support of my people, because many in the grassroots didn’t trust him or like him. Greg Rothman got elected thanks in part, in large part, to me boosting him, me endorsing him, and getting the grassroots of those in the state party that were opposed to him, convincing them to vote for him.
“So the reality is the state party is going to have to deal with the Walk as Free People movement. We played the game over the past couple of years, and now we want something out of it, and that will probably be, perhaps my candidacy, and they’re going to need to get on board.”
State Republicans are not necessarily onboard with Mastriano 2.0.
“If he’s the GOP nominee in 2026, we could lose the Senate majority as well as losing even more seats in the House – giving the Democrats complete control of Pennsylvania,” said Matt Brouillette, founder, President & CEO of Commonwealth Partners Chamber of Entrepreneurs, Inc. “You can be sure that Josh would LOVE a rematch with Doug and will likely spend millions again to get it.”
“If he’s our nominee, we lose four House seats,” GOP consultant Josh Novotney told POLITICO. “He’s a nightmare that no one wants.”
Some in the party hope that President Donald Trump will throw his support behind State Treasurer Stacy Garrity in a bid to block Mastriano. As of this writing, Garrity has not made her intentions clear, although recent social media posts point toward an impending announcement.
“With Donald Trump in office he’s going to bring a lot of gravitas to the fight when he’s campaigning in the state for me,” said Mastriano. “I know how it goes. Every time this happens, people claim that they have the endorsement of Trump. The fact is, I had the endorsement of Donald Trump for my run for governor.”
Mastriano continues to tease his intentions, as he unveiled a refreshed version of his Doug4Gov.com website on Tuesday. While the site does not unequivocally state he is running, the site does prominently display his 2022 campaign slogan, “Walk As Free People.”
And he continues to fundraise for a potential run, as shown by this Twitter post from late Tuesday night.
Steve Ulrich is managing editor of Politics PA where this article originally appeared.
