How did this guy even get on the ballot in the first place?
I’m not too familiar with him ( I am a registered Democrat and this was a closed primary. I confined my studying to candidates in my party). I can say that Dr Oz and the rest all strove mightily to make the public think they were most like Trump.
I’m in the UK, so excuse me if I’ve got thing wrong.
But this is a white, male, religious candidate who supports Trump, overturning the last election and QAnon.
So isn’t he the perfect Republican candidate? 
Not as far as party leaders see it.
I like The Hill’s comment after the article:
“The Hill has removed its comment section, as there are many other forums for readers to participate in the conversation. We invite you to join the discussion on Facebook and Twitter.”
In other words, “We’re tired of trying to police the rantings of yammering, hate-filled jackasses. Go away.”
“He’s saying the quiet part out loud. Only Trump is allowed to do that!”
I just read an article about this guy. Does he really have a chance in PA?
I think a lot depends on whether he’s a lunatic or a scoundrel.
IOW, if he’s a True Believer, and continues to base his campaign on this type of far out stuff, then he’s probably doomed in a purple state like PA. But if he just emphasized all this stuff to win the Republican primary and is capable of tacking to the center for the general election, then he has a much better chance in what looks like it might be a Red year.
I’d really really like to say “No!”, but the cynic in me is very doubtful.
From this, he seems like a true believer. That might be paywalled.
He got on ballot because a significant segment of America is pro-white supremacy and pro-fascist.
He quoted the Bible in his acceptance speech, was supported by Trump, and represents the Republican Party. Any one of those are all some people need.
This is true, and Republicans love to vote for candidates like this. It’s America, people. It’s how it is, and it’s what we are. Republicans, anyway.
Yeah, and the GOP leadership disavows and then goes along and then acts shocked at the next white nationalist terrorist attack from one of their members.
I’m kinda sorta hoping that some long-buried skeleton in his closet gets unearthed, no pun intended.
Bear in mind that, generally, the Republican Party (and, the Democratic Party, for that matter) have little to no ability to prevent someone from running in their primary races.
Depending on the state, there may be minimum numbers of signatures from registered voters needed on a petition in order to file, and party leadership can certainly make it clear who they prefer (or don’t prefer), and spend party resources behind their preferred candidate, but as a general rule, the parties have limited abilities to dictate, “no, you’re too out there, we won’t let you on our ballot.”
I know pretty much anyone can toss their hat in the ring. However, in this case, HE GOT ELECTED.
Absolutely. A rather similar guy named Donald Trump won PA in 2016 (although he lost my state in 2020).
Political science evidence shows that moderates are a little more likely to win U.S. elections than those perceived to be extremists. But balance that against the likelihood of 2022 being a GOP year nationally.
Then there is the Fetterman effect. I think Fetterman is an extremely strong candidate (and I say it as a centrist knowing that careful-not-to-say-socialist Fetterman is a progressive). One reason Fetterman will outperform, beyond his own everyman image, is that he lucked into an opponent, whether Oz or McCormick, who is an out-of-stater easy to peg as a member of the elite.
If I am correct that Fetterman will exceed normal expectations, would Shapiro ride his coattails to beat Mastriano? Or would true swing voters think one D vote is all they have do give in the year of inflation?
Does anyone know if senate-gubernatorial coattails exist?
Some context here:
Mastriano says Shapiro’s TV ad will help him win next week’s GOP primary
Maybe Shapiro will win. But being manipulative is, aside from the questionable morality, high risk.
So he rejects the label “Christian nationalist.” Does he reject or embrace the label “dominionist,” I wonder?
This is a pretty dangerous development imo. Mastriano and a compliant legislature won’t hesitate a second to make sure Pennsylvania’s electoral votes go to the Republican candidate in '24, regardless of the actual vote totals.