Pennsylvania’s Mastriano, accused of antisemitism in run for governor, now eyes Senate seat

By Jacob Kornbluh
March 8, 2023

Doug Mastriano, a Christian nationalist who trafficked in antisemitic tropes in final 12 months’s race for Pennsylvania governor, is contemplating a run for the U.S. Senate in 2024. In an interview with Politico, revealed on Tuesday, Mastriano mentioned he’s “praying” about whether or not to compete in a Republican major to problem incumbent Democratic Sen. Bob Casey.

“What do you do with a motion of two.2 million?” he mentioned, referring to the variety of votes he acquired within the 2022 gubernatorial election. “We’re preserving it alive.”

In his marketing campaign final 12 months towards now-Gov. Josh Shapiro, who’s Jewish, Mastriano took warmth for his divisive rhetoric and affiliation with antisemites and conspiracy theorists. However the Pennsylvania state senator, who likened Democratic gun-control proposals to Nazi insurance policies and referred to abortion as a “barbaric holocaust,” declined to distance himself from excessive views and extremists. He welcomed assist from the founding father of Gab, a social media platform for far-right extremists and an echo chamber for antisemitism, and attacked Shapiro for sending his children to a “privileged, unique, elite” Jewish day college.

Mastriano offended Jews particularly when he closed his marketing campaign with a prayer from a Messianic rabbi and a girl who performed a tribute to the tune of “If I Have been a Wealthy Man” from Fiddler on the Roof.

Shapiro beat Mastriano in November by 15%, the biggest margin for a non-incumbent since 1946 and probably the most votes in a Pennsylvania gubernatorial election. Within the Politico interview, Mastriano mentioned he believed he was going to win the race, at the same time as polls confirmed him trailing, based mostly on turnout at his marketing campaign rallies. “I’d go to those rallies and other people would say, ‘We’ve by no means seen this,’” he mentioned.

Mastriano mentioned his spouse Rebecca, whom he calls “Rebbie,” could have the ultimate phrase on a possible run. She acquired criticism through the marketing campaign for saying that “we most likely love Israel greater than quite a lot of Jews do.”

Mastriano mentioned it doesn’t matter that a lot of the eye he attracted operating for governor skewed unfavorable, as a result of it made him a family identify. “How do I beat the Casey identify? ‘Mastriano’?” he informed Politico with a smile. “At the very least they know who I’m now.”

Mastriano not too long ago employed Dan Cox, the defeated Republican nominee for governor of Maryland, who was an lively person on Gab earlier than he gained the GOP major final 12 months, as his chief of employees. He’s holding a rally titled “Stroll as free individuals” in Franklin County on Saturday.