“For the Republicans running to lead the entire state, questioning the votes of millions of their constituents may seem like an odd stance. But they know the big guy is watching.”
PENNSYLVANIA — The “Trump Primary” candidates have been all-in on the Big Lie for months, and they’re fighting with each other over who’s more obsessed with the Big Lie in what has become a focal point in their historically crowded primary. While the 2020 presidential election has repeatedly been deemed free and fair, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that “the GOP candidates for governor are trying to show who’s toughest on the virtually nonexistent problem of voter fraud” — and “they know the big guy is watching.”
A reminder of the GOP candidates’ record of embracing the Big Lie:
- Doug Mastriano championed the Big Lie and participated in the Jan. 6 insurrection, earning him a congressional subpoena.
- Bill McSwain wrote a desperate letter to Trump, giving Trump “a new talking point for false claims that the election was stolen,” and earned him nationwide ridicule.
- Jake Corman is leading Harrisburg Republicans’ crusade to waste taxpayer money and risk Pennsylvanians’ personal, private information with a sham audit of the 2020 presidential election.
- Lou Barletta signed on as an alternate elector as part of a nationwide scheme to help Trump overturn the election and refused to say Biden rightfully won the election.
- Dave White has made “election integrity” a central pillar of his campaign and has accused McSwain of “not actually doing enough on voter fraud.”
In case you forgot, check out The Philadelphia Inquirer’s reminder of how obsessed the GOP gubernatorial candidates are with proving their “election rejection credentials.”
The Philadelphia Inquirer: Why 2020 keeps coming up in the Pa. gov race | Election Newsletter
By Jonathan Tamari and Julia Terruso, 3/30/22
2020 is lurking in 2022
They’re running in the 2022 primary, but GOP candidates for governor are still talking a lot about 2020.
Jake Corman enlisted longtime Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to vouch for his efforts to investigate the 2020 election in Pennsylvania. Doug Mastriano’s campaign is capitalizing on the notice he gained as a “Stop the Steal” proponent. Dave White has criticized Bill McSwain for not actually doing enough on voter fraud, while McSwain’s ads tell you he prosecuted election crimes (they don’t mention that the case had nothing to do with 2020). And Lou Barletta has joked that while dead people have long voted, they can now “mail in their ballots.”
While the 2020 election has been repeatedly upheld as valid and lawful, our colleague Andrew Seidman is tracking how the GOP candidates for governor are trying to show who’s toughest on the virtually nonexistent problem of voter fraud.
That’s not all they’re talking about. But it’s almost like there are two parallel primaries: a traditional campaign about issues like inflation, energy policy, gas prices, and crime — and the jockeying over “election integrity” and the 2020 election.
Some of it seems aimed at a segment of GOP voters who genuinely believe in the “stolen election” myth, and some seems rooted in real disagreements over the scope of voting laws and election security.
But some also appear tailored to one voter in particular: Donald Trump.
As his potential endorsement looms, that was underscored last week when Conway promoted Corman’s efforts to investigate an election that has been validated numerous times.
“The President recognizes that Senator Corman picked up where Mastriano failed,” Conway said, per Seidman.
That brought a Twitter rebuke from Bernie Kerik, the Rudy Giuliani ally and former New York police commissioner, who argued Mastriano “led the charge” while Corman was “ABSENT.”
The Twitter beef shows just how invested GOP candidates are in showing their election rejection credentials.
And it sets up a sharp general election contrast: As Republicans pledge to roll back mail voting, the presumptive Democratic nominee, Josh Shapiro, vows to block any such move. In contrast, Shapiro is running unopposed in his primary and is talking up how he defended Pennsylvania’s vote in 2020 as Republicans tried to throw out the state’s result.
For the Republicans running to lead the entire state, questioning the votes of millions of their constituents may seem like an odd stance. But they know the big guy is watching.
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