Doug Mastriano Spends First Two Months of General Election Doubling Down on Extremism

Two Months Later: Mastriano Surrounds Himself with Violent Hate Groups, Peddles Election Conspiracies, and Champions an Extreme Abortion Ban — as Republicans Are “Fleeing” His Campaign

It’s been just over two months since “QAnon Loving Election Denier” Doug Mastriano became the GOP nominee for governor — but instead of addressing the issues facing Pennsylvanians, Mastriano’s spent the last two months doubling down on his extremism and showing how out-of-touch he is.

Even though Mastriano’s far-right agenda has driven prominent members of his own party to “flee” his campaign, he’s spent his time doubling down on that very agenda. Mastriano has reiterated that his priorities are spewing election lies, surrounding himself with conspiracy theorists and dangerous hate groups, and pushing a total abortion ban with no exceptions.

While Mastriano continues to ignore the needs of Pennsylvanians, check out what he has been spending his time focusing on over the first two months of the general election: 

• New reporting revealed that Mastriano paid Gab thousands of dollars for alt-right antisemitic extremists to be part of his campaign. Gab was described as “key” in the deadliest attack on Jewish people in the history of the United States, murdering 11 Jewish Pennsylvanians and injuring others at the Tree of Life synagogue.

• Mastriano has refused to respond to questions about his association with those extremists, instead blocking the reporter who wrote on Mastriano’s payment to Gab and retweeted a tweet calling his involvement with Gab’s extremists “creative campaigning.” Gab CEO Andrew Torba also filmed a new video praising Mastriano and saying he endorsed Mastriano to build “a coalition of Christian nationalists at the local and state level.”

• Mastriano continued to make comparisons to Nazi Germany. He compared abortion to the Holocaust and Democrats’ efforts on gun control to Nazi power grabs.

• Mastriano’s campaign contingent carried a Three Percenters flag, a symbol of the extremist right-wing militia group, during a July 4 parade in Glenside.

• Mastriano hired conspiracy theorist Jenna Ellis as a “senior legal advisor” — showing that election lies will remain at the forefront of his campaign.

• New reporting showed once again that Mastriano lied about his movements on January 6th — he was so close to the Capitol that he recorded video as insurrectionists “faced off” with law enforcement. Even his supporters are getting charged for their actions.

• Mastriano and his allies have repeatedly been called out during Jan. 6 Committee hearings: Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani were featured for conspiring to pressure Pennsylvania officials into throwing out votes after the 2020 election, Bill Barr called Mastriano’s lies totally debunked, Mastriano and Giuliani’s Gettysburg hearing was highlighted, and most recently, the Committee highlighted a “Wild Protest” Mastriano promoted and was slated to speak at.

• Conservative federal judge John Luttig strongly criticized Mastriano’s obsession with election conspiracies and warned that extremists like Mastriano are “a clear and present danger to American democracy.”

• Mastriano has repeatedly dodged questions from Pennsylvania press — literally running from them even at his own events and fortifying his Harrisburg office to avoid their questions.

“Doug Mastriano has unsurprisingly spent the first two months of the general election focusing on anything but the issues that matter most to families across the Commonwealth — instead obsessing over insurrectionists, election conspiracies, hateful extremist groups, and dangerous abortion bans,” said DGA Deputy Communications Director Sam Newton. “In Doug Mastriano’s quest to prove he is the most extreme and dangerous gubernatorial candidate in Pennsylvania history, he’s also made clear to Pennsylvanians that he truly couldn’t be more out-of-touch.”

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