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Trump-Backed, Big Lie Pushing Doug Mastriano Wins GOP Gubernatorial Primary in Pennsylvania

A far-right figure, Mastriano built his campaign around claims of widespread voter fraud during the 2020 election.

Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano won the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary, beating out eight other opponents. Mastriano, a 58-year-old retired Army colonel whom the Philadelphia Inquirer called a “leading voice in Pennsylvania’s election denial movement,” centered much of his campaign around claims of voter fraud in 2020 and was endorsed by Trump over the weekend. Mastriano also supports outlawing abortion at six weeks with no exceptions and funded buses to help people travel to the Jan. 6 protests that preceded the insurrection. “We’re under siege now,” he told supporters before the Associated Press called the race. “The media doesn’t like groups of us who believe certain things.” Some Republicans had tried to stop his nomination and organize around a different candidate over fears that Mastriano will lose to Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, in November’s general election. Following Mastriano's victory, Shapiro released a statement saying that "Republicans just nominated a dangerous extremist who wants to take away our freedoms."