On the campaign trail in southeastern Pennsylvania on Wednesday, Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano rallied supporters with reminders of the pandemic and civil unrest that defined the middle of his opponent’s final term as attorney general.
While going through what he called “Democrats’ dirty laundry list,” Mastriano ridiculed Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro and outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf’s enforcement of mask mandates and business restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Mastriano told crowds in Montgomery and Delaware counties that his election would restore freedom to Pennsylvania.
“If you want our children to grow up with the same freedoms you have here, we’ve got to beat him up pretty bad,” Mastriano said, speaking to about 100 people gathered in the parking lot of a roofing company in Pennsburg, Montgomery County.
“What is my vision for Pennsylvania? To restore freedom. To put power where it always should have been. We stand for the freedom of all men and women – all Americans. I just don’t pledge allegiance to my party like Josh does,” Mastriano said.
He also had harsh words for former Health Secretary Rachel Levine over the state’s handling of nursing home policy during the pandemic; and President Joe Biden for economic and immigration policies. He also said transgender-inclusive education policies make the Democratic Party “crazy.”
“We no longer want men to dominate women’s sports teams. So girls, you will have an equal opportunity to restore what Josh Shapiro wants to turn back the clock 50 years on what you have worked so hard for with Title IX,” Mastriano said.
As attorney general, Shapiro defended the rights of transgender people, joining the legal fight to allow transgender students to apply facilities consistent with their gender identity. In June, Shapiro spoke out against it Republican-backed bill it would ban transgender students from participating in women’s interscholastic sports, calling it “downright cruel.” Wilk vetoed this bill.
Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel elected to a south-central Pennsylvania Senate district in 2019, scored an unlikely victory in a crowded Republican primary for governor.
His initiatives include improving energy independence and reducing costs by developing Pennsylvania’s coal, gas and oil resources.
“We’re going to dig and drill like there’s no tomorrow,” Mastriano said.
His energy policy would include abandoning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, an agreement among northeastern states to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants that Pennsylvania joined in April. Mastriano’s energy plan would also include building natural gas export terminals in Philadelphia and Erie, he said.
“I pledge to become No. 1 in energy production under Governor Mastriano,” Mastriano said.
He also announced a rollback of thousands of business and industry regulations introduced under Wolf.
As a candidate, he faced criticism for his presence on the Capitol grounds when supporters of former President Donald Trump gathered and broke into the building, temporarily halting the certification of the presidential election results.
Mastriano was also condemned by Jewish leaders for his apply of language alt-right social media platform Gabwhich critics call a haven for hate speech to engage potential voters. The gunman accused of killing 11 worshipers at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 was a recurrent user and posted about his plans in the minutes before the killings.
Shapiro and some members of his own party labeled Mastriano as too extreme for his suggestion that as governor he could decertify voting machines and end gay marriage; and because of his dismissal of climate change as “fake science.”
There were no comments from Mastriano on Tuesday anti-abortion rhetoric. The only mention comes from Mastriano’s wife, Rebbe, who included the right to be born among the rights of republican women.
The first bill Mastriano co-sponsored as a senator in 2019 was a bill banning abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, which is before most people know they are pregnant.
Since the Supreme Court and Supreme Court ruled on Roe v. Wade, Mastriano has rarely mentioned abortion.
Journalists were not allowed to enter the company’s property in Montgomery County, where Mastriano spoke Tuesday morning.
This is as close as I can get to where Mastriano is going to speak. pic.twitter.com/md6elmVpkJ
— Peter Hall (@PeteHallPA) August 24, 2022
Those in attendance were directed to a roped-off area on the business’s front lawn, out of sight of where Mastriano spoke. (His amplified speech could be heard from an adjacent parking lot.) Throughout his campaign, Mastriano refused to speak to most media outlets, preferring to appear on conservative talk radio and live broadcasts on social media.
During a later appearance at a pub in Aston, Delaware County, Mastriano dismissed the Pennsylvania State Education Association’s analysis of his school choice plan as “garbage.” He also called news reports about the analysis a shameful repetition of a “propaganda article.”
Supporters say Mastriano’s education funding plan would devastate Pennsylvania public schools
Mastriano said he would eliminate property taxes to fund public education and limit per-pupil spending to just $9,000 from a statewide average of more than $19,000.
Mastriano said the reports do not mention his vote for the historic $850 million enhance in education funding in this year’s budget, but PSEA’s analysis shows that more than $6 billion in additional state revenue would be needed to offset the loss in revenue. from the local property tax, even with the reduced levels of per-pupil spending that Mastriano proposes.
