Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano unexpectedly announced Thursday night that he would stay out of the GOP primary to take on Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, a move that will come as a huge relief to National Republicans. The QAnon ally Last year suffered a blowout 56-42 loss see you now-Gov. Josh Shapiro after running an underfunded and chaotic campaign, and Senate Republicans have made it clear that they dreaded the idea to have him as a candidate.
The person that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and his allies I actually want to take on Casey is wealthy businessman Dave McCormick, and he’ll probably be just as happy Mastriano is giving the race a pass. Several unnamed sources told Bloomberg’s Jonathan Tamari earlier in the week that McCormick was afraid that a primary could be a costly undertaking that could leave him weakened ahead of the general election. Some McCormick allies saw it differently and argued that a win over a far-right figure like Mastriano would help him look less extreme by comparison, but they won’t be able to test that hypothesis now.
Mastriano, for his part, had previously insisted that he already made a decision on his plans, and he seemed likely to run in this week. “Of all the detractors, none had the courage to look me in the eye and have a conversation,” he said on Monday. He added of the internal party criticism: “It does not concern me. It’s the tree falling in the forest, no one hears it. Despite GOP fears to the contrary, it’s Mastriano no one will hear from in next year’s Senate race.