Posted on 05/26/2023 11:03:00 AM PDT by Coronal
Doug Mastriano, the far-right state senator who was blown out in Pennsylvania's gubernatorial contest last fall, announced Thursday that he will not run for Senate in 2024.
"At this time we have decided not to run for Senate, but to continue to serve in Harrisburg," Mastriano said in a video posted on Facebook Thursday.
"So I know for some, that’ll be disappointing. For others, it won’t be disappointing, because you’re like, ‘Who’s going to fill his seat? Who’s going to be our voice in Harrisburg?’ … Whoever is that nominee, I will support them," he added.
Mastriano had been openly considering a Senate bid, much to the consternation of some party leaders who didn't want a repeat of the losses in 2022.
Republicans are trying to knock off Sen. Bob Casey, whose re-election bid in the battleground state will play a key role in Democrats' effort to keep their slim majority in the Senate next year.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Can a cucumber run for Senate in PA and win?
Yep.
5.56mm
I like Mastriano, I still think he would have been an awesome Governor. He would be an awesome US Senator.
He’s also not good at winning a general statewide election in Pennsylvania. He has way too much to overcome to win a majority of votes, and far too little ability to do it.
Maybe he will be more capable of winning statewide election some day.
Maybe Pennsylvania will be a more favorable state for a candidate like him some day.
I’m looking forward to that day, but right now those things aren’t true.
NBC’s bias in the first paragraph. All you need to know. Bleech!
Got to admire his use of the plural form “we” to refer to his intentions to not run for office at this time. I thought only the Royal Family and the Pope used that form of self reference.
That’s a shame.
Mastriano was a huge hardline mistake. He had millions left in his war chest that he quit spending in July of 2022. Why? He refused to cooperate and allow other Republicans to help him win which made him a liability as candidate for governor. He ran few ads. We need good candidates that citizens are enthusiastic to vote for. Oz was another that should not have been running in PA.
The left and media describes all conservatives as far right. But never describe leftist Dems as far left. Same old double standard. We need to come up with a catch phrase and use it against such tactics.
Mastriano ran an awful campaign in 2022. I’m surprised he even managed to get 40% of the vote.
Mastriano's campaign had three huge problems that he never addressed:
1.) He had no money. Whatever he did, he did it on an absolute shoestring budget. Money talks.
2.) He didn't respond to the deluge of early negative ads against him. Part of that was the money issue, but I think another part was his campaign overestimating how important image is. By the time the voters were paying attention, low information voters only knew him as an abortion banning zealot. This play works over and over again against Pro-life politicians, it has to be prepared for and addressed.
3.) The PA GOP party machinery has a hatred of MAGA/Tea Party types that goes back many years. Anyone not lined up behind cheap labor/Chamber of Commerce ideals gets zero help. They sit on their hands and watch their candidate lose. Of course most PA primary voters want exactly these types of candidates, so over and over again this scenario plays out. Any statewide GOP candidate needs to overcome this party nonsupport, and Mastriano either couldn't or didn't.
The second place finisher in the PA primary, Lou Barletta, would have had the same fate.
1. He refused to talk to the mainstream media. That's a bad idea no matter how hostile the media may be. Media exposure is free exposure, and his refusal to deal with them directly allowed his opponent to define him.
2. His overtly religious persona turned off many voters. For better or worse, many ordinary Americans are simply scared off by openly religious political candidates.
3. That stupid "Desert Storm Veteran" hat was one of the worst political campaign props I've ever seen. For heaven's sake, dude -- that was more than 30 years ago ... and most voters today have no idea what the hell that military campaign was all about.
Every time a saw or read a Mastriano campaign ad, I got the impression I was seeing a candidate who molded his campaign around focus groups he held in his local VFW and American Legion halls. I don’t think the guy made any effort to get a single vote from anyone who wasn’t already going to vote for him.
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