NewsPoliticsTop StoryUS

Oz-Mastriano: 2 Awkward atop PA GOP Ticket

Oz-Mastriano: 2 Awkward atop PA GOP Ticket

Newslooks- MALVERN, Pa. (AP)

On a chilly Saturday morning in mid-October, state and national Republican Party leaders made their way to a hotel patio restaurant in the critically important Philadelphia suburbs to energize loyalists heading into next month’s election that features an awkwardly fitting pair at the top of the Pennsylvania ticket.

After citing what they said were the failings of Democrats, the party officials introduced the keynote speaker: Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Senate nominee against Democrat John Fetterman in a race that could decide control of the chamber and the fate of President Joe Biden’s agenda.

This combination of file photos shows Democratic Senate candidate, Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, left, and Republican Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2022 photos. (AP Photo)

“I am excited to retire the name doctor and let’s make sure he’s a senator,” Ronna McDaniel, the Republican National Committee chairwoman, told the crowd.

Nowhere in sight — and not even mentioned — was Doug Mastriano, the GOP nominee for governor against Democrat Josh Shapiro.

Pennsylvania GOP gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano gestures as he rallies with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, not pictured, in Pittsburgh, Friday, Aug. 19, 2022. (Steven M. Falk/The Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

Oz, the heart surgeon-turned-TV celebrity, and Mastriano have national political winds at their back. But they are running dramatically different campaigns and targeting two very different types of voters — in ways that may hinder, rather than help, the other.

FILE – Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, center, speaks with Guy Ciarrocchi, Republican candidate for U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 6th Congressional District, left, and Ronna McDaniel, RNC Chairwoman. during a campaign event in Malvern, Pa., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)

That dynamic is complicating a Republican path to victory in Pennsylvania on Nov. 8, strategists say, and forcing the GOP into an uneasy balancing act in which the two men only rarely appear together.

Party strategists said it makes sense to avoid Mastriano because he is trailing Shapiro in polls and running a far-right campaign that is driving off the moderate voters that Oz will need to beat Fetterman, the lieutenant governor.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, a Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania, speaks during a campaign event in York, Pa., Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Ryan Costello, a former Republican congressman who once represented this stretch of Chester County, said if he were running for office and were invited to a party event, “I would ask if Mastriano was coming and if they said ‘Yes,’ I would do something else. He’s horrible.”

Mastriano will lose Republican votes in Philadelphia’s moderate and heavily populated suburbs, just as Donald Trump did in his 2020 presidential election loss to Biden, Costello said.

GOP officials didn’t respond to questions about Mastriano.

FILE – Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, meeting with attendees at a SEIU union event in Philadelphia, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd, File)

The dynamic isn’t lost on Fetterman, who is continually tying Oz to Mastriano. In their Tuesday night debate, Fetterman interrupted Oz’s answer to a question on abortion to assert that “you roll with Doug Mastriano!”

The next day, Mastriano mentioned that line in a stump speech in Lancaster County, and chuckled about it —“I like that: Let’s roll together.” But he didn’t mention Oz, only Fetterman.

Like Mastriano, Oz has been endorsed by Trump. But unlike Mastriano, Oz hasn’t been warmly embraced by Trump’s most loyal voters — the ones that form Mastriano’s far-right base.

Trump in PA, rallies for Oz, Mastriano amid uncertainty
FILE – Former President Donald Trump arrives at a rally, Aug. 5, 2022, in Waukesha, Wis. Trump backed lots of Republicans who won primaries this year. Now comes the harder part, helping them win in November. Trump heads to Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, on Saturday for his first rally of the general election. His goal: bolstering two struggling campaigns that show the challenges facing the inexperienced and oftentimes polarizing candidates Trump championed. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

Mastriano has gone hard after the Trump bloc, sprinkling conspiracy theories about transgender youth into more mainstream GOP talking points on crime and inflation while refusing to answer questions from mainstream, independent news organizations. But that messaging, plus his blanket opposition to abortion, his peddling of Trump’s election lies and his presence outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection, has alienated moderates and GOP donors.

“It’s like he’s still running a primary campaign,” said Republican campaign strategist Bob Salera. “He’s not going anywhere. He’s not talking to any groups of people who already aren’t going to vote for him in the general election. He’s not inviting media into his events. He’s not getting a message out beyond his base.”

FILE – Supporters gather to hear Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, center with Ronna McDaniel, RNC Chairwoman, left in blue, and Guy Ciarrocchi, PA-06 Republican nominee, speak during a campaign event in Malvern, Pa., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)

Oz, meanwhile, emphasizes national GOP talking points on crime and inflation, aiming to persuade swing voters and even Democrats. He has campaigned with mainstream GOP figures, including Nikki Haley, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, retiring two-term Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, whom Oz hopes to succeed.

Mastriano has campaigned with far-right figures, including propagandists, QAnon conspiracy theorists, election deniers, self-described prophets and Christian nationalists such as Michael Flynn, who once led the U.S. military’s intelligence agency and now is at the center of a far-right Christian nationalist movement.

Toomey hasn’t endorsed Mastriano.

FILE – Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano speaks ahead of former President Donald Trump at a rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Sept. 3, 2022. An Associated Press review has found that more than a quarter of Republican candidates for statewide office that play some role in overseeing, certifying or defending elections across 38 states supported overturning the 2020 presidential election (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)

Mastriano had been set to speak at Flynn’s two-day ReAwaken America conference last weekend in Manheim, but skipped it without explanation. Most recently, he has campaigned with propagandist Jack Posobiec, perhaps best-known for peddling the conspiracy theory “ pizzagate, ” which suggested Hillary Clinton was running a pedophile ring out of a pizzeria.

FILE – State Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Democratic nominee for governor, addresses attendees at an SEIU union event in Philadelphia, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd, File)

“That’s who he surrounds himself with: white supremacists, extremists,” Shapiro, the two-term attorney general, said in an interview. “He’s the only candidate in the nation who is actively out recruiting white supremacists on Gab to be part of his campaign. So it shouldn’t surprise us. He’s the guy who wore the Confederate uniform on the grounds of the Army War College. This is who he is.”

FILE – SEIU union members listen to Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, at a union event in Philadelphia, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd, File)

Fetterman and Shapiro have no such issues appearing together. They show up at the same major party events and union rallies, such as one 30 miles away in Philadelphia where they threw an arm around each other and mugged for rallygoers’ cameras.

FILE – Mehmet Oz, a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania, speaks during a campaign event in Malvern, Pa., Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Laurence Kesterson, File)

Mastriano can still help Oz, strategists say, by getting the party’s base to come out and vote for Oz. But Oz will have to attract moderate Republicans in places such as Chester County even if they refuse to support Mastriano, Costello said.

“And if he does, that’s where Oz wins,” Costello said.

Mike Mikus, a Democratic political strategist, said that kind of balance can work, but that Mastriano lacks the campaign cash to reach base GOP supporters who might not vote in a midterm election.

FILE – Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, addresses attendees at an SEIU union event in Philadelphia, Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022. (AP Photo/Ryan Collerd, File)

Those voters are critically necessary to motivate if the GOP is to win, Mikus said.

“There’s going to be high turnout,” Mikus said. “But there are going to be people who stay home because Oz can’t motivate them, and Mastriano would be able to motivate them, but doesn’t have the money or infrastructure to turn them out.”

Read more U.S. news

Previous Article
146 dead after Halloween crowd surge in Seoul
Next Article
Permitless carry laws raise dilemmas for Cops

How useful was this article?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this article.

Latest News

Menu