Yet Another Secondary Primary Choice
By Bob Small
Yes, there is a Doug Mastriano write-in Campaign for the May 19 Pennsylvania Primary. No, he did not start it.
Ernie Springer of Lancaster and Joshua Day (Clinton County) hatched a write-in campaign with it’s requisite website (see below). Mastriano denies involvement with the website, but would accept the nomination.
if he somehow won.
Stacy Garrity, who’s on the ballot, was endorsed by the State Party back in September, which some consider as a decision to prevent Mastriano from attaining ballot status.
Note: He lost his the 2022 gubernatorial effort by 15 percentage points and many consider him as too MAGA to win a statewide election in Pennsylvania.
Mastriano announced his withdrawal from a second run at Shapiro in January.
But he then downplayed Garrity’s chances, “claiming the “only way” for her to win would be if he were her lieutenant governor running mate.”
Downplaying the early endorsement, the website made the point that “The people decide the nominee, not the establishment, “and that he “won that year’s primary with nearly 45 percent of the vote. “ Among his stands are being against Covid mandates and against biological males in female sports. See the websites for a full list.
In a recent article , Mastriano rails against “ Pride festivals that close Lincoln Square, rainbow flags across storefronts and the growing prominence of activist messaging”. There goes the Log Cabin Republican vote,
As a recovering Green Party member, (Co-Chair of Delco Greens), we always argued against write-in campaigns for any office above, Judge of Elections. Generally, these write-in campaigns used up time, money, and energy with, usually, a negative result. In this case, it can only hurt Garrity.
If Mastriano did, somehow win, Shapiro would have a second term, no question.
Though we agree with parts of Mastriano’s program, we, and I suspect most of Pennsylvania, would rather have a Governor Garrity then another four years of “Prince Joshua”. A second term could lead to Presidential consideration which, to paraphrase a local sign, “ The Democrats are doing the best they can…..and that’s truly frightening”.
The Write-in Campaigners are going door-to-door in various towns and cities, though none have been sighted in Swarthmore.
