An upset Sean Hannity ramped up his attacks against Pennsylvania Senate candidate John Fetterman on Tuesday night, at one point floating legal action toward the Keystone state’s lieutenant governor.
The night prior, Hannity said on his Fox News show that he had invited Fetterman, whom he labeled a “very lazy, Bernie Sanders-loving, socialist, trust-fund-baby brat,” to debate. This followed the Fox host catching wind of the Democratic candidate sending out a fundraising message that noted an appearance on Hannity by Dr. Mehmet Oz, Fetterman’s opponent whom Hannity has endorsed.
“‘Can you please rush a donation of $25 right now to help me … fight back against future Fox News attacks?’” Hannity said, quoting the Fetterman campaign. “‘We’ve got to counter Sean Hannity with as much grass roots support as possible.'”
On Tuesday, Hannity huffed about Fetterman, who is leading Oz in recent polls, and how he is “refusing” to debate both of them. Hannity also accused Fetterman of “lying” about him and “raising money off of” his name.
“He apparently sent yet another fundraising text today attacking me, lying about me [and] calling me a liar,” Hannity complained. “Every day [that] he lies about me I will continue to tell the truth about his radical, extreme positions [that are] way out of touch with the hard-working people of Pennsylvania.”
“By the way, my trust-fund-brat friend, I will attack you back 10 to 100 times harder because you are a lying loser and raising money for your losing campaign,” continued Hannity. Then, addressing his audience: “He may be hearing from my lawyers very shortly. He better hope that mommy and daddy have enough money to pay his legal bills.”
Yeah, well Trump ain't exactly happy with Hannity:
Sources tell Puck that Donald Trump, who enraged some of his base by supporting Oz, is now complaining to his Fox News bud Sean Hannity about his poor performance. Hannity was the one who coaxed Trump to endorse him in the first place, and throw in the fact that Hannity hasn’t had Trump on his show since April, he must be hopping mad.
Trump’s not the only one pissed. After Oz went abroad instead of campaigning, a number of people in the GOP were aghast. “No one can believe that he took a damn vacation at the end of June, after only coming back to the state on June 10,” a Republican strategist told Puck. “He screwed up with that video that was from his New Jersey house instead of Pennsylvania house. It’s really bad.”
What’s more, Politico reports that Oz’s lackluster polling and fundraising have led to panic amongst the National Republican Senatorial Committee. On a recent donor call, NRSC officials tried to mollify concerns by pointing out they may be able to flip the Senate, currently split 50-50, without Oz. Then again, they still have to defend critical seats in Wisconsin and North Caroline, all while trying to flip states like Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, and New Hampshire.
And Oz is royally embarrassing Trump right now:
He’s going to “fucking lose,” unless something drastically changes, Trump has said privately of his chosen man in the Keystone State, according to two sources who’ve discussed the midterm election with the ex-president.
In recent weeks, some Trump allies have repeatedly flagged polling for the former president showing Dr. Oz down, at times by wide or double-digit margins, to his Democratic opponent. Trump has sometimes responded by asking advisers how it’s possible that someone who was that popular on TV for so long is doing so poorly in the polls. When Trump has inquired if the polling has been “phony” or skewed, multiple people close to him have assured him that — as one of the sources describes to Rolling Stone — “this is not a matter of the polls being ‘rigged,’ there are major problems with this campaign and, more specifically, this candidate.”
This source adds that Trump’s “view is that it would be incredibly embarrassing for Oz if he loses to ‘ that guy’ because he thinks so little of [Fetterman]. He thinks Fetterman is in poorer shape than Biden and has hidden in his basement more [than Joe Biden].” (The Democratic Senate nominee has been recovering from a stroke he suffered earlier this year, shortly before winning his primary.)
And the latest polling from Franklin & Marshall can back this up:
Pennsylvania General Election Poll:#PASen: Fetterman (D) 43% (+13) Oz (R) 30%#PAGov: Shapiro (D) 44% (+11) Mastriano (R) 33% Franklin & Marshall (8/15-8/22)
In the poll conducted by Franklin & Marshall College’s Center for Opinion Research, Fetterman, the state’s lieutenant governor, leads GOP candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz 43 percent to 30 percent in the Senate race with 20 percent undecided, while Shapiro leads GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano 44 percent to 33 percent in the race for governor with 19 percent undecided.
F&M College polled 522 registered voters between Aug. 15 and 21, and the margin of error is plus/minus 5.3 percentage points.
Berwood Yost, the director of the Center for Opinion Research, said the considerable leads by the two Democrats in the face of overwhelming discontent from voters shows the weaknesses of the two Republicans.
Sixty-one percent of Pennsylvania voters said the state is on the wrong track, while 77 percent said the same of the country, and Republicans lead 44 percent to 42 percent on generic ballots.
Typically, such frustration would be taken out on the party in charge, currently Democrats with President Joe Biden in the White House and Gov. Tom Wolf wrapping up his second term, but that is not the case.
“Right now, in this environment, it comes down to the candidates,” Yost said.
Oz and Mastriano are simply being outflanked in their campaigns, and “really need to try something different if they’re going to make some inroads” into their Democratic opponents’ leads, Yost said.
Asked if it’s possible for either Oz or Mastriano to gain additional traction with slightly more than two months left until the Nov. 8 election, Yost paused and said, “I don’t know.”
Oz is trailing Fetterman in fundraising and his campaign’s stumbles have been numerous.
Just in the last week, the Oz campaign saw an ill-advised video of Oz shopping for crudité, or raw vegetables, become the catalyst for incessant trolling and an Oz campaign spokeswoman mocked Fetterman for having a stroke, drawing a storm of criticism.
Mastriano, meanwhile, has ignored the mainstream media while being buffeted by stories about his involvement in the rally and march that preceded the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and his ties to a right-wing social media platform whose founder repeatedly made anti-Semitic remarks.
Fetterman has a 43 percent favorable rating and a 36 percent unfavorable one, but Oz is underwater with Keystone State voters with a miserable 57 percent unfavorable rating.
Instead of trying to improve his rating among voters, Yost said Oz should focus on driving down Fetterman’s favorable rating, but that’s easier said than done.
“It’s a big lift,” Yost said.
Oz’s unpopularity among voters is a bad sign. “It’s just unusual for a candidate with negative favorability ratings to win,” said Yost.
More daunting, Oz’s struggles aren’t just with the general electorate. Oz has support from just 62 percent of Republican voters, compared to Fetterman who is backed by 76 percent of Democrats.
Fetterman has hammered Oz as an out-of-touch wealthy celebrity from New Jersey and those attacks seem to have worked, with 52 percent of voters saying Fetterman best understands the concerns of Pennsylvanians compared to just 28 percent saying that about Oz.
Shapiro has a 44 percent favorable rating and a 32 percent unfavorable one, and Mastriano has a 49 percent unfavorable rating with just 28 percent favorable.
Forty-seven percent of voters said Shapiro better understands their concerns than Mastriano (33 percent), and 45 percent said Shapiro is closest to their social issue views while 32 percent said Mastriano.
Support for abortion access among Pennsylvania voters reached an all-time high this month, according to a Franklin & Marshall College poll released Thursday.
Thursday’s poll was the first one that Franklin & Marshall College conducted since the U.S. Supreme Court in June overturned a federal constitutional right to an abortion. According to the poll conducted last week, 37% of registered voters believe abortion should be legal under any circumstances and 52% believe it should be legal under certain circumstances.
All together, nine in 10 Pennsylvania voters support abortion access in some form.
Statewide Democratic candidates have advantages over the Republicans, according to Thursday’s poll. Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro leads the GOP nominee Sen. Doug Mastriano, 44% to 33%, pollsters found. In the U.S. Senate race, Democrat John Fetterman leads Republican Mehmet Oz, 43% to 30%.
Oz and Mastriano’s stances on abortion do not play well in the suburbs:
Many suburban Republicans say they are having a hard time bringing themselves to vote for their party’s nominee for governor, Doug Mastriano. And several voters and political operatives doing on-the-ground outreach say his stance on abortion is a big reason why.
In this race to lead purple Pennsylvania, the difference between the candidates is stark.
Mastriano, a state senator, opposes abortion under all circumstances. His Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Shapiro, says he wants to maintain Pennsylvania’s current law: Abortion is legal up to about 24 weeks of gestation, with later-term abortions permitted in case of a medical emergency.
Stacy Naulty is one of those voters for whom a total ban is a problem. She’s 43 and lives near Lansdale, a Montgomery County town about an hour from Philadelphia, with her four kids. She supported Donald Trump in both 2016 and 2020.
Naulty isn’t especially involved in politics, but she follows it closely. She works in elementary special education for the Central Bucks School District, and between her job and her kids, she cares a lot about schools. She has been frustrated by closures and mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, worries about inflation, and generally supports lower taxes. She considers herself an independent-leaning Republican.
She voted for former congressman Lou Barletta in the GOP primary — a very conservative candidate who she still felt seemed “grounded” — but she doesn’t think Mastriano can be trusted with the governorship.
“I think he’s too far conservative,” she said. “I think he will cause more of a divide in our state if he gets in as governor.”
Naulty has a few specific areas of concern. Mastriano has released a plan to dramatically cut education funding that, as a teacher, she thinks will be “really tough on school districts.” She doesn’t like that Mastriano refuses to talk to mainstream news media.
But it’s his stance on abortion that she finds especially unacceptable, even as a person who generally supports abortion laws being up to states.
“I do think he will take it to the extreme and completely shut abortion down altogether, and that’s not an answer these days,” she said. “People rape children. You’re going to have her, you know, have a baby out of that situation?”
“No,” she said. “It’s not OK.”
Now Emerson also released their latest poll today as well, showing a tighter race. But there are some very important aspects to keep in mind:
PENNSYLVANIA POLL: Does Mehmet Oz's longtime New Jersey residence make you more or less likely to support him in the race for US Senate? 51% less likely 9% more likely 40% no differencehttps://t.co/90U9uNdnoG
The latest Emerson College Polling survey of Pennsylvania voters finds Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman with a 4-point lead over Mehmet Oz, 48% to 44% in the race for US Senate. Five percent are undecided and three percent plan to vote for someone else. Despite a 4-point lead on the ballot, 56% of Pennsylvania voters expect Fetterman to win the election while 44% expect Oz to win, regardless of whom they support.
Spencer Kimball, Executive Director of Emerson College Polling noted, “Three out of four urban voters support Fetterman whereas 59% of rural voters support Oz. Suburban voters are the battleground for this election, they are split 47% support Fetterman and 47% support Oz.”
In the race to replace term-limited Governor Tom Wolf, Attorney General Josh Shapiro leads State Senator Doug Mastriano 47% to 44%. Six percent are undecided and 3% plan to support someone else. Like the US Senate race, voters expect the Democratic candidate to prevail in the gubernatorial election; 57% expect Shapiro to win while 43% expect Mastriano to win.
A majority, 52% have a very (34%) or somewhat (18%) favorable view of the Attorney General, while 41% have a somewhat (7%) or very (34%) unfavorable view of Shapiro. This compares to his opponent Doug Mastriano, whom 45% of voters have a very (31%) or somewhat (14%) favorable opinion, while 49% have a somewhat (7%) or very (43%) unfavorable view of Mastriano.
A majority of voters (56%) have a somewhat (11%) or very (45%) unfavorable view of Mehmet Oz, while 41% have a very (18%) or somewhat (23%) favorable view of Oz. A slight plurality of voters (48%) have a very (34%) or somewhat (14%) favorable view of John Fetterman while 46% have a somewhat (8%) or very (38%) unfavorable view.
“While Mastriano’s unfavorables are not as intense as Oz’s unfavorables, he faces the upward challenge of running against Shapiro, the most popular candidate on the ballot who also holds statewide office,” Kimball remarked.
Voters were asked about two focal points of the Pennsylvania Senate campaigns: Fetterman’s recent stroke and Mehmet Oz’s longtime New Jersey residence. Regarding the impact of Fetterman’s stroke on Pennsylvania voters’ decision, 68% say it makes no difference on their vote, while 22% say it makes them less likely to vote for Fetterman, and 9% say it makes them more likely to vote for him. When asked about Mehmet Oz’s longtime New Jersey residence, a majority of Pennsylvania voters (51%) say it makes them less likely to support Oz, 40% say it makes no difference, and 9% say it makes them more likely to support Oz in the race for US Senate.
“Eighty percent of undecided Senate voters say Fetterman’s recent stroke has no impact on their vote, whereas over a third, of undecided voters, 34%, say Oz’s New Jersey residence makes them less likely to vote for him come November,” Kimball noted.
Also, here’s a long list of ways Oz is so unpopular:
For months we’ve been saying that Dr Oz is from New Jersey. But the truth is that we were wrong. He’s actually from New Jersey AND Florida! https://t.co/XAeJSXAnqz
100+ doctors from across the Commonwealth are warning Pennsylvanians about the threat of Dr. Oz's candidacy to their patients' health Read their letter about how this fraud endangers the health of PA residents to enrich himself 👇#RealDoctorsAgainstOz https://t.co/lJMEXzh1nm
Doc Hollywood doesn't care about the health of you or your loved ones. From pushing "miracle" diet pills to simping for big pharma, Oz exploited his viewers’ trust so he could make million$ #RealDoctorsAgainstOz pic.twitter.com/iyAygdbJZ6
I would’ve voted YES, Dr. Oz would’ve voted NO More affordable energy + health care + prescription drugs for PA residents Thanks, Inflation Reduction Act 🥰https://t.co/ADowBh0NR7
My crudité eating opponent doesn't have a plan to lower your grocery bill. But I do. I'll be working hard to make your veggie tray more affordable 🥕🥒🥦 Stop price gouging + Make more sh*t in America + Fix supply chains 💯https://t.co/6s4NHgRh9d
Dr. Oz said he wants to ban abortion even in the cases of rape or incest Let's be very clear: Women's reproductive freedom is non-negotiable for me. He should listen to these doctors on the frontlines providing abortion care in PA 👇https://t.co/0JJPBn4wC5
Dr. Oz sells his own Oz-branded products made in China. He loves doing business in China in order to enrich himself. He WON'T fight to protect our jobs here at home. While he tries to sell us out, I'll be fighting to bring jobs *back* to America.https://t.co/Ex9dg2toM9
I had a stroke. I survived it. I'm truly so grateful to still be here today. I know politics can be nasty, but even then, I could *never* imagine ridiculing someone for their health challenges. pic.twitter.com/0fJHESjt4l
Also, this is what a real populist looks like:
Imagine the character Dr. Oz must possess to simp for Big Oil while corporations like Exxon + Shell drive up prices at the pump and turn out record profits.
The Plan™ pic.twitter.com/ma2SFYEfFr
After losing my best friend, I rethought everything and dedicated my life to helping others. It's what led me to Braddock and fighting for those left behind. And now it's a lesson I want to bring to Washington. pic.twitter.com/557scPRCtm
Let me ask a question. Of the 10 houses Dr. Oz has, do you think any of them have a steel plant across the street? Lol, didn’t think so. I literally live across the street from a steel plant + a union hall. @steelworkers always know I have their backs. 💛🖤 pic.twitter.com/87hw7ZcunS
And while we are the topic of polling, this is funny:
Clout understands why State Sen. Doug Mastriano, the Republican nominee for governor in Pennsylvania, touted on social media the results of a new “poll” that for the first time showed him with a narrow lead over the Democratic nominee, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro.
What we don’t get: Why did Mastriano and campaign advisor Jenna Ellis leave up those social media posts for five days — as it soon became clear it was a hoax and the “pollster” had pranked him?
Curious call for a cantankerous candidate who dismisses any media reporting that does not exalt him as “fake news.”
The “pollster” — who would only identify himself as “a high school student from southwestern Connecticut who likes politics” — told Clout in a Twitter message exchange that he created the Twitter account Carleton Polling this month to test a theory about a “double standard” for polling and political parties.
His hypothesis: Republicans attack the credibility of established polling firms that release surveys with results they don’t like but take seriously and push polls even if they “don’t seem legitimate.”
Mastriano was his first test.
He posted it on Twitter Saturday afternoon with an all-caps siren headline — New #PAGOV POLL SHOWS MASTRIANO LEAD.” It claimed Mastriano led Shapiro 47.4% to 45.3% in a survey of 2,800 likely voters.
Mastriano, whose Twitter account was tagged in that tweet, quickly retweeted it and retweeted supporters who also retweeted it.
“The Republican nominee for governor of Pennsylvania literally retweeted a joke poll from some high schooler without questioning anything,” the student said in a follow-up email to Clout. “I’ll admit, I expected some random Twitter accounts to share it, but not Doug Mastriano himself.”
Mastriano also retweeted a Carleton Polling post Sunday that said, “It has become abundantly clear” that he “is going to win the Pennsylvania governor’s race. All the data we are analyzing right now shows him ahead.”
Ellis, a senior legal advisor to Mastriano’s campaign and one-time lawyer for former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign, also retweeted the poll Saturday. And then she retweeted a Carleton Polling post Sunday that said: “It’s ironic how everybody on Twitter is mad at us because we’re the only ones not putting out fake Democratic propaganda polls.”
Breitbart, a right-wing web site, included the Carleton Polling tweet in a story Monday about Mastriano’s chances but then cut it, posting an editor’s note that the story would “focus only on established pollsters.”
Carleton Polling responded with a tweet, accusing Breitbart of selling out “to the liberal media.”
More discerning Twitter users started to poke holes in the results. Philly lawyer Adam Bonin, who works for the Shapiro campaign but did the math to satisfy his own curiosity, employed algebra to show what little information Carleton Polling had released produced unfeasible results.
While we are on the Governor’s race:
A progressive evangelical group this week rolled out a billboard campaign in Pennsylvania urging conservative faith voters to reconsider their vote in November.
In particular, Vote Common Good is urging evangelical voters to ditch their support for GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
“We are very much urging voters to not vote for Mastriano,” said executive director Doug Pagitt. “Voters think they need to default and vote for Mastriano but we are asking them to take a hard look at what the implications are for voting for him and to really run that up against their own sense of what they think a politician should do or how they should act, and how they should use the power given to them.”
In a series of four billboards installed across the Pittsburgh area, Vote Common Good is encouraging faith voters to filter candidates through the prism of Christian values such as compassion and love for all and reject candidates whose political platform, Pagitt said, violate those values.
“What people have realized is that they’ve been voting along party lines,” he said. “Maybe they need to reconsider an occasional shift. We are pushing people to consider that they have agency.”
Mastriano has been described as a proponent of Christian nationalism, a theological framework that espouses America as an inherently Christian nation, and whose laws and policies should reflect evangelical values.
And of course Mastriano has been getting help on the campaign trail from this piece of shit:
Florida Democrats and Jewish leaders joined religious groups in Pennsylvania in condemning Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., for his plans to appear Friday with Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania.
Mastriano’s ties to Gab, a right-wing social media site that has become a hub of antisemitic and racist commentary, have come under fire for the last few weeks.
“Do not go to Pennsylvania and do this. Be bigger than this. Be better than this,” Democratic activist Fred Guttenberg appealed to DeSantis. The Florida governor, a likely contender for the GOP’s 2024 presidential nomination, is currently running for reelection.
Guttenberg appeared on a Zoom call organized by the Florida Democratic Party with two Jewish leaders and with one Democratic candidate for Congress from St. Petersburg, Fla.
DeSantis is “encouraging all of the bigotry, not he himself expressing it, but by supporting Mastriano, and Mastriano is at least one or two steps ahead of Ron Desantis in fomenting this bigotry,” said Rabbi Mark Winer, president of the Florida Democratic Party Jewish Caucus.
DeSantis is scheduled to appear alongside Mastriano at a political rally Friday in Pittsburgh. Requests for comment from DeSantis’ gubernatorial office and from Mastriano’s campaign were not returned.
In April, Mastriano paid $5,000 to Gab for “consulting.” Gab bills itself as a champion of free speech but because of its lax moderation policies it has become a gathering place for conspiracy theorists and extremists, including those who espouse vicious antisemitic and white supremacist rhetoric.
In 2018, a Pittsburgh man with a history of antisemitic comments posted on Gab about his plans to commit murder at the Tree of Life synagogue, just moments before he is alleged to have shot and killed 11 people there.
Gab users are making ethnic slurs and threats against Pennsylvania state Rep. Dan Frankel (D) for him calling out Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano's $5,000 payment to the far-right website.
Gab is the site on which Robert Bowers, who is charged in the Tree of Life Synagogue mass shooting in Pittsburgh, was active. Bowers sent a message on Gab saying he was "going in," moments before the synagogue attack.
Frankel said he has repeatedly criticized Mastriano and Gab in recent weeks "because what this hate speech does is, it dehumanizes groups of people for who they are. And it creates the environment for violence to take place."
Gab users targeting Frankel published posts that include the following:
- "It's coming, (ethnic slur). hold on to your yamulke."
- "He knows what happens to people like him once it happens."
We did meet with Pittsburgh police from Zone 4 here last Friday to make sure they were aware of this," Frankel told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.
Shawn Brokos, the director of community security at Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh has been "in conversations with local and federal law enforcement, yes, regarding these posts and regarding additional posts that we've seen."
In the wake of the Tree of Life massacre, Brokos said the Jewish Federation is taking this seriously and monitoring it closely.
"Our concern is always that somebody will do something in furtherance of this. They'll read this post and maybe act in a threatening way or a harmful way," Brokos told Pittsburgh's Action News 4.
And circling back to DeSantis:
Doug Mastriano rolled into Delaware County on Wednesday as part of his Pennsylvania bus tour — then rolled out again without answering questions.
The Republican nominee for governor was greeted by a rowdy crowd that packed Gatsby’s Bar & Grill in Aston. Most reporters were kept far away from the candidate.
Outside, a cargo truck pulled up outfitted with two makeshift flamethrowers and signs referencing a “rigged” 2020 election, and a bearded man ran through the parking lot waving a gigantic American flag and shouted, “Let’s go, Brandon!” — a chant that stands in for “f— Joe Biden.”
A few dozen supporters of Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro who gathered near the street were not warmly received by the Mastriano supporters as they waited for the candidate to arrive.
“Good for them,” one man muttered. “Let me get a hand grenade.”
Inside the sports bar, Mastriano and his wife, Rebbie, were introduced by Dave White, a former Delaware County councilman who had run against the nominee in the nine-way GOP primary.
“This is the time to come together, to unite,” White said. “If you believe in economic development, in tapping our resources, in making Pennsylvania the energy capital of the United States, join this team.”
Mastriano, fresh off last week’s appearance with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, received particularly loud applause when he pledged to make Pennsylvania “the Florida of the North.”
He delivered a 35-minute speech in which he vowed to create jobs, end vaccine and mask mandates, and promote school choice. He also said he would implement a ban on trans athletes and the teaching of so-called critical race theory in schools.
Speaking of schools, here’s another big issue where Shapiro and Mastriano are on complete opposite ends:
Shapiro has said he largely wants to maintain Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf’s education spending plan.
Wolf took over the commonwealth at a time when state education funding was at a historic low, following cuts in the wake of the 2008 housing market crash. Wolf has made school funding increases the centerpiece of his budgets since then, increasing the overall budget by about $3.7 billion, by the administration’s count.
Specifically, Shapiro has supported the Wolf administration in its bid to route more state education dollars through a funding formula the state legislature adopted in 2016. Intended to better reflect student needs and make funding more equitable across the commonwealth, the funding formula applies only to new funding, which means a small fraction of education funds run through it.
The GOP-controlled legislature has opposed full use of the formula, and parents, school districts and advocacy groups are suing the state over what they say is unconstitutionally unfair funding of public schools. As attorney general, Shapiro filed an amicus brief to the lawsuit, supporting the plaintiffs’ argument that the legislature’s funding arrangement violates the constitution.
The part of Mastriano’s education plan that has gotten the most attention came to public view in a radio interview the candidate did during the primary election. He said Pennsylvania should reduce its per-student school funding from $19,000 to about $9,000 — an unprecedented cut — and that students and parents should then decide whether they want to attend public, private, charter or home schools.
On his campaign website, Mastriano lays out a few specific education funding proposals.
He wants to “shift funding to students instead of systems” by establishing “Education Opportunity Accounts” for parents.
These accounts are controversial, but have become a popular model among advocates who want to make private or charter education more common. They’re in use in a handful of states, and are typically restricted-use accounts, like health savings accounts, in which the average amount of per-pupil state funding that otherwise would have gone to a public school district is pulled from the district, and put in an account for individual use.
On top of that, Mastriano wants to expand existing programs that give tax breaks to companies that fund scholarships to private schools. These programs are often painted as a way for poor children to get out of, as Mastriano’s website says, “failing” public schools. But WHYY has also found that there’s little oversight of these programs, and that the scholarships can go to well-off families with more quality school options.
Mastriano also wants to eliminate property taxes, a key source of public school funding.
And again, this cannot be emphasized again:
https://t.co/iMk8biYJeL
We're witnessing a coordinated attack on our democracy here in Pennsylvania — from "fake elector" schemes to sham "audits." And they're all being led by conspiracy theorist and extremist candidate for Governor, Doug Mastriano.
Doug Mastriano, the Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, is doubling down in a very big way.
Mastriano’s plan is simple. If elected, he promises to remove everyone from the voting rolls.
That’s right, he’ll deregister the entire state. Every single Pennsylvanian will lose the right to vote.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the Democratic candidate for governor, has a few very specific things to say about the Mastriano plan:
Doug Mastriano wants to kick every Pennsylvanian off the voter-rolls and force them to re-register. Let's speak truth: his goal is to stop minority communties from voting — and his plan has been called "a direct descendant of the poll tax." It's un-American.
The Mastriano plan is an obvious and ham-fisted attempt to undo the voter registration gains made by Pennsylvania Democrats in the last several election cycles. It is also a rather transparent attack on working class voters, older voters, and especially voters of color and the 11% of Pennsylvanians who live below the poverty line.
These populations tend to have more difficulty overcoming obstacles in the voting process, have less of a voice in opposing suppression efforts, and they also tend to vote blue. It’s a combination of factors that makes them the perfect target for voter suppression efforts like the Mastriano plan.
“We might have to reset, as far as registration, start that whole process over here,” Mastriano said in an interview last month. “There’s still a lot of dead [people] on the rolls … and there’s ghost phantom voters that we found, as well, at various addresses.”
None of this is true, but the Trumpian doubling down on lies, even after they are known to be lies, is becoming a trademark of the Mastriano campaign.
Most experts explain voter suppression not as a direct attack on voters, but rather as a series of small and ever-changing obstacles, each designed to peel off small pieces of the electorate in order to engineer a desired outcome. Simply put, Mastriano’s plan is to remove voting rights from all because he believes more Republicans than Democrats will climb those obstacles. And he may be correct.
Now, even though Mastriano and Oz are down, Trump is still going to try and bail them out:
On Sept. 3, former President Donald Trump will be in the Wilkes-Barre area rallying for Republican candidates in two big Pennsylvania races. He's holding a rally over Labor Day weekend.
Doug Mastriano is running for governor, and Dr. Mehmet Oz is running for the Senate. Both have the former president's support.
CBS News political correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns says we're likely to see a number of rallies like this during the midterms.
In a statement about the planned rally, Pennsylvania Democrats told CBS3 that both Oz and Mastriano are running "failing campaigns" and that a visit from Trump is not going to fix that.
And even McConnell has to bail out Oz:
Struggling Pennsylvania GOP Senate hopeful Dr. Mehmet Oz insisted on Thursday morning that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t referencing him when lamenting about the “candidate quality” of some of the party’s nominees.
Downplaying expectations of a “red wave” sweeping Democrats out of the Senate majority, McConnell said last week that “there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.” Without naming names, the Kentucky lawmaker suggested a host of inexperienced Trump-backed candidates will weigh down the GOP’s chances.
Struggling Pennsylvania GOP Senate hopeful Dr. Mehmet Oz insisted on Thursday morning that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell wasn’t referencing him when lamenting about the “candidate quality” of some of the party’s nominees.
Downplaying expectations of a “red wave” sweeping Democrats out of the Senate majority, McConnell said last week that “there’s probably a greater likelihood the House flips than the Senate.” Without naming names, the Kentucky lawmaker suggested a host of inexperienced Trump-backed candidates will weigh down the GOP’s chances.
“Senate races are just different—they're statewide, candidate quality has a lot to do with the outcome,” he flatly told the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
Oz, who is currently trailing Democratic opponent John Fetterman by double digits in a slew of recent polls, denied to Fox Business Network anchor Maria Bartiromo that the GOP Senate leader thinks he was among those low-quality candidates.
“Are you getting support from the Republican Party?” Bartiromo began. “Look, let’s face it, people were a little taken back the other day when Mitch McConnell comes out and says, ‘Well, it’s probably 50/50, we’re not going to win because we have some bad candidates.’”
The pro-Trump business host wondered: “Was he talking about you?”
“He was not,” Oz confidently declared. “And I’ll tell you, he expressed himself quite clearly with his pocketbook. He’s put $34 million into my race. That’s a lot of money.”
But Democratic candidates are uniting to win the Senate Majority:
If we want to end the filibuster and codify Roe, we need to expand our majority. If we want to lower costs and make progress on climate and voting rights, we need to expand our majority. Can you rush a donation to the Flippable Five Fund now? https://t.co/VAM4Y0kKzS
Five Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate are raising money together, as they try to win five U.S. Senate seats now held by Republicans.
“It's really taken off in recent cycles,” Brendan Glavin, senior data analyst for Open Secrets said. “Historically, [joint funds] were more associated with the presidential campaigns and congressional party committees.”
Democrats have long eyed Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as their best opportunities to expand their razor thin majority. In recent weeks, they have come to believe that GOP seats in North Carolina, Florida and Ohio also are vulnerable. The announcement that the five Democratic candidates in those races are teaming up for fundraising reflects the party’s increased optimism heading into the fall campaign.
“Our races are Democrats’ best chance to pick up seats this November and bring change to Washington,” Cheri Beasley, North Carolina candidate for U.S. Senate wrote in part in a tweet announcing the fund.
Beasley, Mandela Barnes of Wisconsin, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Tim Ryan of Ohio and Val Demmings of Florida announced what they’re calling the "Flippable Five Fund." It’s an appeal to progressive Democrats, arguing that if all five are elected, Congress is much more likely to enact progressive policies.
Click here to donate to the Flippable Five Fund.
Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee
Pennsylvania Senate Democratic Campaign Committee