While Attorney General Josh Shapiro Rolls Out Economic Plan, Doug Mastriano Is Getting Slammed For “Heinous” Ties With Gab

Every week, the contrast in the Pennsylvania Governor’s race becomes clearer. While Doug Mastriano is getting slammed across the Commonwealth for his ties to Gab and doubling down on campaigning with antisemitic extremists, Attorney General Josh Shapiro has been traveling across the state to speak to Pennsylvanians about his plans to tackle the issues that matter most — like lowering costs, protecting rights, improving education, and keeping communities safe.

Today, Shapiro unveiled his economic plan in Dunmore — laying out his aggressive strategy to jump-start Pennsylvania’s economy by cutting red tape, lowering taxes, and making it easier to do business in the Commonwealth.

Mastriano, on the other hand, is once again getting called out for being the only politician in the country to pay Gab — a “haven” for “white supremacists, antisemites, and violent extremists” — thousands of dollars for their far-right followers to join his campaign. In a new piece this morning, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Editorial Board wrote a scathing piece about Mastriano’s association with Gab:

“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.

Mr. Mastriano paid $5,000 to the company, and now every new user automatically follows his account. He has also posted at least 60 times on the site; during the primary he gave an interview to Gab CEO Andrew Torba, who insists his social media platform is dedicated to radical free speech. The Anti-Defamation League, however, rightly identifies Gab as a “haven for extremists, conspiracy theorists and misinformation.”

The man who wants to be Pennsylvania’s next governor apparently believes that such an audience will respond to his message. In fact, more than 150 of the responses to his messages on the site have included anti-Semitic attacks on Mr. Shapiro. He’s throwing red meat to the dogs, and he knows it. 

It’s a remarkable political and moral calculation for Mr. Mastriano — that courting and motivating these people will benefit his campaign more than it will taint it, and that implicitly validating their hatred is worth it. On the former count, it’s terrible to say, he may be right. As for the moral calculation, he is wrong, horribly wrong.”

“While economic growth is a ‘top priority’ for Josh Shapiro and Austin Davis, Doug Mastriano’s ‘number one issue’ is outlawing abortion with no exceptions and criminalizing doctors for performing abortions. Attorney General Shapiro is building a broad coalition of Pennsylvanians of all faiths, political stripes, and backgrounds, focusing on the issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians, while Doug Mastriano is campaigning with white supremacists, violent extremists, and antisemites, and dodging questions on his extreme and out-of-touch agenda,” said DGA Deputy Communications Director Sam Newton. “The contrast between Shapiro and Mastriano truly couldn’t be clearer — and Pennsylvanians know it.”