Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin County) said that establishment Republicans need to come together during this election cycle to support and elect grassroots candidates and former President Donald Trump to office.
Mastriano, who recently detailed his personal experience of betrayal by establishment Republican organizations during his 2022 gubernatorial campaign, said “it’s going to take a lot of effort, energy, and unity” to elect strong Republicans into office this November—especially in the toss up state of Pennsylvania.
“[Pennsylvania] is definitely a toss up. It’s going to take a lot of effort, energy and unity. We need to get together with the grassroots Republicans and stop sabotaging each other and get the job done. Donald Trump needs to win,” Mastriano said on Tuesday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
Noting how Pennsylvania has had a recent net growth in Republican registrations as the Democratic Party has “gone too far left and too extreme,” Mastriano warned how “voter integrity hasn’t really been addressed” in the state.
“The only successful legislation that we had moved that wasn’t vetoed or tanked by our own party, even, was banning Zuckbucks from influencing the elections. That’s it,” Mastiano said.
Regarding his personal experience of being “sabotaged” by the GOP establishment, Mastriano explained how his 20222 gubernatorial campaign was shunned by Republican powerhouse groups, including the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the Republican Governors Association (RGA).
“Every time a Romney wins or a McCain wins or a Bush wins, we get these moderate RINO types. We’re told by the establishment, ‘It’s time to unite, the people have spoken.’ And we dutifully vote for Paul Ryan’s and these other guys who don’t reflect their values, who don’t fight for our rights. But when a grassroots candidate like myself wins, they not only just walk away, but they sabotage your campaign,” Mastriano said.
“This is not any sour grapes or bitterness. I want people to understand the environment politically in Pennsylvania. It’s very difficult for a conservative to win, Republican anyway, but a conservative specifically when our own party will sabotage your race at the national level…Even though we lost, I had the greatest, largest grassroots movement in votes than any other Republican gubernatorial candidate since 1962, and the second greatest in Republican gubernatorial history in the state,” Mastriano continued.
“Ronna McDaniel did nothing for us, took credit for our work. The establishment walked away and Ronna took credit for our work. Her people did hardly anything for us and definitely didn’t help us financially. We knocked on about a half million doors – she took credit for that but not one of her people was doing that, as far as I know. The Republican Governors Association was collecting money from Pennsylvania…Not one cent came,” Mastriano added.
Mastriano, a retired Army colonel, went on to describe a phone call he had with the chair at the time of the RGA, former Nebraska Governor Pete Ricketts, during the height of his campaign, who allegedly told the gubernatorial candidate at the time, “F*** you, colonel.”
“The polls had me tied with my opponent Shapiro just a month before the election… I was told to ‘F*** off’ by the Republican Governors Association,” Mastriano said. “I was doing a campaign rally in the northern part of the state, and it’s the middle of the day. I’m thinking there’s going to be a handful of people – 400 people in Tioga County. We were pulling up in our RV and I saw it’s [Ricketts] calling. I’m like, ‘We got to take this call.’ So we’re making all these beautiful people wait, and I’m like, ‘Hey governor, I sent you the polls. We got two polls that came out, had me neck and neck. We really need you guys now.’ And he goes, ‘You guys need to change some of this and that.’ I said, ‘First of all, there’s no time for this here. We got the momentum. We just need a little bit more wind behind us’.”
“He interrupted me, and I was being respectful to the governor, but then I replied back politely and respectfully, I said, ‘Governor, I know I’m not your cup of tea. I’m a career soldier. I’m not wealthy.’ Unlike him, his daddy was mutual Omaha, so he’s a hedge fund baby. And he just interrupted me and he used the word, ‘F*** you, colonel.’ I’m like, ‘What did you say?’ ‘F*** you, colonel.’ I said, ‘Governor, I’m really disappointed.’ He goes, ‘I want to talk to you in a way that you would talk to the soldiers to understand where I’m coming from.’ I said, ‘Governor, I spent 30 years in the army leading men and women. I never spoke to any of my lowest soldiers or privates that way. I showed them due respect.’ And I said, ‘We better end this conversation here before I say something I regret’,” Mastriano said.
“So that’s the kind of the same guy that will have alligator tears and thank veterans for their service. That’s the kind of respect they really have for us,” Mastriano added.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “Doug Mastriano” by Doug Mastriano.
