In Republicans' quest to regain the Senate majority, holding Pennsylvania's open seat now held by retiring GOP Sen. Pat Toomey is pretty damn close to a must. Failing to do so would require them to diversify their efforts rather than concentrating their resources on flipping one vulnerable seat.
In fact, holding Pennsylvania is so critical that the Mitch McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund super PAC has made the seat one of its top three investments to date. The PAC's record-breaking early investment of $141 million included pouring $37 million into Georgia, Republicans' main pickup target, along with directing $24 million to Pennsylvania and $27 million to North Carolina, both states where Republicans are defending seats left open by a retiring GOP senator.
Enter MAGA radical and state senator Doug Mastriano, who on Tuesday won the Republican gubernatorial nomination in Pennsylvania. Mastriano's chief qualifications for the post are being an unapologetic spreader of Donald Trump's 2020 election lies and having attended the Jan. 6 protest at the Capitol while claiming that he never actually breached the barricades (video evidence suggests otherwise).
So the man at the top of the GOP ticket in Pennsylvania is a hardcore election denier who—wittingly or unwittingly—took part in Trump's deadly coup attempt. That may play well to Trump's hardcore MAGA base in a primary, but it will be a nonstarter to any voter who falls under the umbrella of "sane" in the general election. The blow to Republican fortunes in a must-win battleground resulted in a circular firing squad among state party leaders as it became clear Mastriano was poised to claim the nomination.
The Daily Kos Elections Team talks with Joe Sudbay about the big primaries and all of the redistricting nonsense on The Downballot podcast
But the turn of events clearly has Senate Republicans a tad freaked too. It's still unclear who their Senate candidate will be, as a contest between TV huckster Mehmet Oz and hedge fund CEO David McCormick could end up in a recount territory. But whoever emerges, they will have to contend with Mastriano, who will simultaneously be running a statewide campaign that involves a whole lot of crazy election fraud conspiracy theories, among other things.
Cue Senate Republicans weighing in from Washington, gently trying to steer Mastriano’s MAGA impulses in a more moderate direction.
“I don’t think 2020 is what people are going to want to think about,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina told CNN of Mastriano's election fraud claims.
Senate GOP Whip John Thune wouldn't even utter Mastriano's name.
“Some of the statements I think that that individual has made aren’t ideal,” said Thune, who also hoped an epic round of ticket splitting would save their eventual candidate.
"I think people hopefully are, when it comes to the fall election, are very discerning and will be able to differentiate a candidate for governor from the candidate for Senate,” Thune suggested.
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina advised that stolen election claims might not be the silver bullet in the general election that it was in the primary.
“If you run across the state, you need to know the state and I think in some of these particularly battleground states, that may not be a winning message," said Tillis.
Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah was a tad more blunt about Mastriano, saying, “Wouldn’t have been my choice."
Even Sen. Toomey admitted that he hadn't voted for Mastriano, offering, “I’m aware that he has said things that I would disagree with.”
But like Thune, Toomey sought to insulate the Senate race from whatever might await the GOP in the gubernatorial.
“I think they’re separate races, really separate races. So I feel very good about our prospects of holding the Senate seat,” Toomey said.
