The Trump-centric Republican primary grows larger with another candidate who wants to play all sides but refuses to denounce the Big Lie.
PENNSYLVANIA — Pennsylvania Republicans’ “super MAGA Trump” primary got even more crowded today as longtime Harrisburg insider Charlie Gerow entered the race, embracing the latest MAGA litmus test. Following the advice of his fellow political consultant, Steve Bannon — who said “there will not be a Republican that wins a primary for 2022 — not one — that doesn’t take the pledge to get to the bottom of Nov. 3” — Gerow endorsed Donald Trump’s unfounded calls for a sham “audit,” even though there have already been two lawful audits confirming President Biden’s victory in Pennsylvania.
Despite his disingenuous attempts to play all sides, Gerow’s record as a MAGA acolyte who will defend Trump at nearly every stage is clear. In May of 2020, Gerow wrote that “the best is yet to come from President Trump,” even after Trump misled the American people about the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic while his administration failed to respond appropriately. In the months following his column, Trump used federal law enforcement to violently clear Lafayette Square in Washington, D.C. and proceeded to promote the Big Lie, undermine American democracy, and incite the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
In February, when asked about the prominence of pro-Trump candidates in Pennsylvania’s primaries, Gerow said “I think you’re going to see a lot of candidates in the primary who are quote-unquote pro-Trump. I think it’s just where people naturally find themselves.”
“As the latest pro-Trump candidate to enter the ‘super MAGA Trump’ primary for governor, Charlie Gerow wasted no time in embracing the latest MAGA litmus test founded on absurd conspiracy theories and the Big Lie,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesman Brendan Welch. “The Republican candidates are competing for Trump’s endorsement, but in order to win his support, they need to repeat the same kind of dangerous rhetoric that led to the deadly insurrection on January 6th. It’s clear that no matter who wins the Republican primary, Pennsylvanians will lose.”
Gerow’s support for Donald Trump’s calls for an audit comes just days after Lou Barletta embraced the same litmus test and new reporting revealed a new connection between Doug Mastriano and Trump’s pressure campaign to enlist the Department of Justice in his efforts to overturn the election.
The Republican primary has already been defined by the Big Lie and baseless conspiracy theories about the election. Barletta has falsely claimed that “dead people have been voting in Pennsylvania for a long time. […] They can mail in their ballots from the cemetery,” and when asked whether Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, Barletta responded, “can anybody really say?” Likewise, Bill McSwain has refused to say whether he believes the results of the 2020 election were valid, and Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale — the first Republican to enter the race — has launched ads that repeat Trump’s false claims about the election.
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