PENNSYLVANIA — While Pennsylvanians have celebrated their love this week with greeting cards and chocolate, it’s safe to say the “Trump primary” candidates won’t be sending each other flowers anytime soon. The race gets messier — and uglier — by the day, and the candidates are all-in on attacking each other to prove their MAGA bonafides.
“Clearly there’s no love lost between the far-right ‘Super MAGA’ primary candidates, and their infighting to prove who’s the most loyal to Trump and the MAGA base is only escalating,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesperson Marisa Nahem. “The only thing the candidates love more than fighting with each other is championing Trump’s Big Lie, hurting Pennsylvania workers by promoting anti-labor policies, and attacking Pennsylvania women — and families — by remaining hellbent on making abortion illegal. Unfortunately for the far-right field, Pennsylvanians see clearly that the GOP PA-Gov candidates are more devoted to their relationship with Trump and the MAGA base than service to the Commonwealth.”
It’s getting tough to keep up with the GOP primary infighting, but let’s take a look at some of the Republican candidates’ most recent attacks — on each other:
Doug Mastriano vs. everyone…
On a recent Facebook Live, Doug Mastriano unsurprisingly attacked his fellow GOP candidates. He went after the strength of their campaigns and their fundraising, criticizing them for funding their campaigns with their “deep pockets” of money. Additionally, he poked fun at his fellow candidates’ lack-of-support, highlighting that while there’s “great demand” for his campaign across the state, the other GOP candidates “have to go to these sponsored dinners because they can’t draw flies.”
Lou Barletta vs. Bill McSwain
According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, a new group called the 1776 Project Committee was formed earlier this month with plans to support Lou Barletta in the Governor’s race — now, they’re up with a new website attacking Bill McSwain as “Property of Pat Toomey.” The group also created a Twitter account and sent out text messages urging Pennsylvanians to “say ‘No!’ to Bill McSwain and Pat Toomey.”
Dave White vs. Bill McSwain
Bill McSwain had plans to hold a press conference on law and order, so Dave White decided to beat him to it. White sent out a press release not only announcing his own plans, but also attacking McSwain himself, saying, “…U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain’s, who served from 2017-2021, only contribution to taking on crime appears to be plastering his face on taxpayer-funded billboards.” White’s Campaign Manager added, “If Bill McSwain wouldn’t act as U.S. Attorney with all of those resources, how can Pennsylvanians trust him to act any differently as governor. Like a career bureaucrat, McSwain’s answer to increased violent crime was to feature himself in a taxpayer-funded billboard.”
Dave White vs. Jake Corman and Bill McSwain
On an appearance on Newsmax, Dave White went all-in on attacking his fellow GOP gubernatorial candidates. First up was Jake Corman, and while candidate for Governor Corman is eager to repeal Act 77, longtime Harrisburg insider state Sen. Jake Corman voted for Act 77 — hypocrisy White made sure to call out, saying, “Not only did he get it passed, he said it’s the best piece of election reform he’s ever passed in the State Senate.” Next up was Trump’s former U.S. Attorney Bill McSwain, who White blasted for failing to prosecute voter fraud in 2020, but running on it in his gubernatorial campaign, saying, “We had a U.S. Attorney that says he found fraud and refused to investigate. That is his job and his duty. He swore an oath to the Constitution. And he should have investigated and showed us what he had found, the evidence he had, so we could have looked at it and made a determination back in 2020. Not two years later, when you decide to run for governor.”
Honorable Mention: Jake Corman vs. Dave White
The Twitter world was abuzz last week when one of Corman’s consultants attempted to call out Dave White’s team for going off the air that upcoming weekend. White’s team was quick to fight back, “Breaking: Cold Spark’s buyers are mistaken.” The winning response though goes to The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Andrew Seidman, “
” — to which another one of White’s consultants promised that this primary is only going to get messier, adding, “Wait for it Andrew… Wait. For. It.”
Trust us, we’ll be waiting.
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