Mastriano Centers On Education, Crime, Economy In Closing Pitch To Pennsylvania Voters

Republican State Senator and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano emphasized education reform, public safety, and the economy in one of his final appeals to voters in the Keystone State.

As Governor Tom Wolf, a Democrat, nears the completion of his second and final term, Republicans have a chance to seize control of an important swing state, which is dominated by a conservative legislature. Mastriano, a career Army officer, wrote in an opinion piece for Fox News that his opponent, Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro, is a replica of state and federal left-wing establishment politicians.

“His agenda is simple: he wants to raise taxes, expand our bloated government bureaucracy, expand harmful economic regulations, and keep our energy sector — which has the potential to be among the most productive in the nation — on its knees,” Mastriano asserted. “Because of his failure to do his job, violent criminals are taking over our cities, drug dealers are making record profits on the streets, and car thieves are jacking vehicles in broad daylight.”

Mastriano has given few media interviews and received little support from establishment Republicans, even as Shapiro broke the commonwealth’s gubernatorial campaign spending record. The former candidate has trended below his opponent by double-digit margins in most polls, although some surveys give him slightly better odds. A recent poll from The Daily Wire and Trafalgar Group found that 52.8% of voters support the former, while 43.5% favor the latter.

One of Mastriano’s few campaign advertisements centered upon radical gender theory in government school curriculum. He vowed in the opinion piece to implement a statewide parental rights law meant to “empower Pennsylvania parents” as well as “protect female students” by banning biological males from competing on women’s sports teams or using women’s locker rooms.

“Shapiro would not lift a finger to stop ‘progressive’ extremists who are indoctrinating our children with obscene propaganda in our classrooms,” Mastriano added. “On day one, I will restore common sense to our education system.”

Roughly 74% of registered voters support school choice, according to a poll from RealClear Opinion Research, while search engine data analyzed by the Washington Examiner appears to show that education is a particularly salient issue for voters in Pennsylvania. Shapiro, who is supported by the commonwealth’s largest teachers union, added language to his campaign website in support of “adding choices for parents and educational opportunity for students and funding lifeline scholarships like those approved in other states and introduced in Pennsylvania.”

Pennsylvania voters, especially in the southwestern portion of the commonwealth, are consistently focused on the issue of fracking. Mastriano promised to “unleash our energy sector” and “promote investment in the natural gas and coal industries” while pulling the state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a program among states on the eastern seaboard meant to cap carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector. “My administration will greatly simplify the permitting process and incentivize energy production across the state,” he remarked.

Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is competing against Democratic Lt. Governor John Fetterman for a seat in the U.S. Senate, emphasized similar issues in his appeal to voters. The race for Pennsylvania’s open slot in the upper chamber is a tossup heading into election day.