Across the Commonwealth, Pennsylvanians Are Speaking Out Against Doug Mastriano’s Extremism
“As Parents, We Shouldn’t Have to Worry About How We’ll Shield Our Children from Doug Mastriano’s Hate, or How to Explain It to Them”
All across the Commonwealth, Pennsylvanians are calling out Doug Mastriano for his dangerous extremism and warning their neighbors about the threat he poses to Pennsylvania. Even members of Mastriano’s own party, from voters to elected officials, agree that his radical and far-right agenda is too extreme for Pennsylvania, which is why they’re “fleeing” Mastriano and instead supporting Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
Time and again, Mastriano has shown his true colors, proving that he is the most dangerous gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania history — and making crystal clear that the stakes couldn’t be higher in 2022. His campaign marched in a Fourth of July Parade, waving the flag of a right-wing militia group. He’s actively campaigning with antisemitic extremists, including becoming the only politician in the country to pay the site that was “key” in the deadliest attack on Jews in U.S. history thousands of dollars for their white supremacist, violent extremist followers to be a part of his campaign.
Read more directly from Pennsylvanians about how dangerous Doug Mastriano is and how devastating his extreme and out-of-touch agenda would be for the Commonwealth:
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette [EDITORIAL]: The gift of Gab is no gift at all
Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano has made it clear that he has nothing but disdain for the mainstream media. The state senator routinely bars news organizations from his events and ignores requests for comment from reporters.
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Associating with Gab — paying it for services, palling around with its CEO, posting on it knowing that doing so will generate anti-Semitic backlash against one’s opponent — is a slap in the face to Jewish communities around Pennsylvania, especially in Squirrel Hill. It’s beyond unbecoming. It’s heinous.
The Reporter [LTE]: Hate has no home here
I woke up early on the Fourth of July, eager to get the kids out the door for what has become a family tradition: marching in the community’s Independence Day parade. The [Glenside] parade route was a Rockwellian American scene — a beautiful day, children scrambling for candy in the street, bands and fire trucks rolling slowly ahead of us, and behind.
At the end of the parade, as we watched the other participating groups file through, we saw that Doug Mastriano’s gubernatorial campaign decided to bring a symbol of hatred and division to our streets. His supporters, individuals he specifically invited to march in Glenside, waved a Three Percenters flag down the parade route. The Three Percenters are a radical, extreme “anti-government paramilitary group” which advocates for using violence to overthrow the government.
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As parents, we shouldn’t have to worry about how we’ll shield our children from Doug Mastriano’s hate, or how to explain it to them. I want my family, and families like mine across our Commonwealth, to be able to celebrate our freedoms in communities where we feel safe. This is impossible in Doug Mastriano’s Pennsylvania. In November, we must show Mastriano and his supporters that hate has no place here.
Carlisle Sentinel [LTE]: What would a week be like under Mastriano?
Mastriano says that he will encourage school choice in Pennsylvania by repealing the property tax, resulting in an approximately $10,000 decrease in funding per pupil, and using any remaining money for school-choice vouchers. He believes that funding students rather than schools will result in better education in Pennsylvania.
Gov. Tom Corbett in 2011 cut $1 billion in education funding, resulting in 70% of Pennsylvania schools increasing class size, 44% slashing extracurricular activities, and 35% eliminating tutoring programs. We can assume that the same problems will result from Sen. Mastriano’s plans.
LNP | Lancaster Online [LTE]: Applauds Republicans who endorse Shapiro
Thank you to the Republican Party leaders who are publicly endorsing Democratic state Attorney General Josh Shapiro for governor (“9 Pa. GOP leaders endorse Shapiro,” July 7 LNP | LancasterOnline).
I am encouraged to know that there are members of the GOP who see their party’s nominee as an extremist who supports the disproven claim that the 2020 election was stolen; said climate change is “ridiculous” “pop science”; and seems to believe that a total ban on abortion is the most important issue of our lifetime. I believe that Mastriano’s views and policies are extreme and dangerous.
Observer-Reporter [LTE]: This is why we vote
Doug Mastriano has been busy scrubbing his social media lately. Gone is a video of him calling for Pennsylvania to pull out of a program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. He said it’s “nonsense” and “pop science” to connect burning fossil fuels with global warming. Always the plainspoken populist, he added, “Heck, the weatherman can’t get the weather right 24 hours out.”
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He believes that the life of a woman, rape, or incest are not exceptions to an all-out abortion ban. He advocates that doctors and nurses who provide this health care should be subject to criminal penalties. He introduced a “heartbeat bill,” banning abortions after about six weeks. Lately, he has pivoted to economic issues from his stance on abortion.
Why the deletions and pivots? Because as a candidate to be the governor of Pennsylvania, Mastriano knows that his extreme, out-of-touch ideology speaks to a small base and is not in line with the beliefs of most voters in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Centre Daily Times [LTE]: Republicans warn of extremism
Now, nine esteemed Pennsylvania Republicans have spoken out against the extremism of gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano, whose ideas fall far outside the mainstream of conservative thought. He has likened even the most modest gun regulations to Nazism. He proposes a ban on all abortions — even in cases of rape and incest — with no exceptions for the health or life of the mother. He has equated patriotism with religious nationalism, promoting policies that undermine the separation of church and state. He has fueled discord and spread unfounded conspiracy theories about the 2020 election being stolen — disinformation that culminated in the violent attack on our capitol.
Republican Herald [LTE]: Candidate in denial over global warming
I am writing after reading the story about Republican governor nominee Doug Mastriano’s view on global warming.
…However, I was particularly taken aback when one of his posts denied that there have been any catastrophic events since 1970. I guess the massive destruction I witnessed when I spent two weeks with a Pennsylvania strike team in Louisiana after hurricanes Katrina and Rita was simply the result of a severe thunderstorm.
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