For the sake of the state Republican Party and Pennsylvania politics as a whole, most GOP candidates for governor should drop out and unite behind the strongest challengers to Franklin County state Sen. Doug Mastriano for the May 17 primary.
Struggling candidates need to think strategically about how to avoid the worst outcome for their party and the state, and that means setting aside short-term ambition and stepping aside from the race.
Mastriano may present himself as a populist, but he’s no reformer or voice for the left-behind: He’s one of Pennsylvania’s, and the entire country’s, most visible deniers of the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election. He took the lead in calling for the Pennsylvania legislature to appoint its own slate of presidential electors. He traveled to Arizona to witness the ridiculous Maricopa County election audit. And, just last week, he headlined an event promoting the QAnon conspiracy theory.
