Donald Trump put out a statement:
“One person in Pennsylvania who I will not be endorsing is Bill McSwain for Governor. He was the U.S. Attorney who did absolutely nothing on the massive Election Fraud that took place in Philadelphia and throughout the commonwealth… Do not vote for Bill McSwain, a coward, who let our Country down. He knew what was happening and let it go. It was there for the taking and he failed so badly.”
A dark money group is spending over $1 million to boost Josh Shapiro (D) as he runs for Pennsylvania governor, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“President Joe Biden will appear in Pittsburgh on Friday as an opening step in a broader campaign to promote the White House’s achievements in key states before the midterm elections,” the AP reports.
“But two of the three leading Democrats on Pennsylvania’s statewide ballot this spring who were invited to appear with Biden will not attend, their campaigns confirmed on the eve of the president’s visit.”
“Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a leading Senate candidate, and state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, the likely Democratic nominee in the race for governor, will be absent because of scheduling conflicts… Another top Senate candidate, Rep. Conor Lamb, a longtime Biden supporter based in Pittsburgh, will attend.”
“The lone Democratic candidate for governor of Pennsylvania, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, has just over $10 million on hand in his campaign account ahead of next year’s election,” the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
“Pennsylvania’s high-profile attorney general, Josh Shapiro, will formally announce his candidacy for governor on Wednesday, entering the 2022 race months after making his intentions known and effectively clearing the field of potential rivals for the Democratic nomination,” the AP reports.
Philadelphia Inquirer: How Josh Shapiro locked down the Democratic nomination for governor without even announcing he would run.
New York Times: “The prospect that Mr. Trump may run again in 2024 only compounds what Democrats fear: that Republicans could gain full control over the three key Northern states in 2022 and, two years later, interfere with or overturn the outcome of a narrow Democratic presidential victory in 2024.”
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R), a leading contender for Pennsylvania governor who says Donald Trump asked him to run, “sent more than 50 tweets with the QAnon hashtag before entering office,” Media Matters reports.
“In those newly uncovered tweets, Mastriano also promoted Pizzagate, a conspiracy theory that, like QAnon, has resulted in violence.”
A new Franklin & Marshall poll in Pennsylvania finds Gov. Tom Wolf (D) with an approval rating of just 39%, down from 52% this time last year.
For comparison, President Biden has a 44% approval rating in the state.
Philadelphia Inquirer: “Ever since photos showed State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that devolved into the deadly Capitol riot, the Franklin County Republican has said he did not cross police lines and left when the scene started to turn violent.”
“But video recently uncovered by amateur online sleuths appears to show that Mastriano — widely seen as a leading Republican contender for Pennsylvania governor in 2022 — stuck around longer and advanced closer to the Capitol building than he has previously acknowledged.”
Philadelphia Inquirer: “When Pennsylvania Republicans celebrated the passage of two ballot questions this week reining in the emergency powers held by the governor’s office, they saw more than just a rebuke to Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf. They saw a path to winning the office themselves next year. … Republicans hoping to replace Wolf are making the lame-duck governor and his handling of the coronavirus a central issue in the very early days of the 2022 contest.”
“With President Joe Biden enjoying strong public approval ratings early in his tenure and Wolf’s slipping as his eight years in office near a close, Republicans are making the governor an even more prominent target — and largely ignoring Democrats’ big-spending ambitions in Washington.”
Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) said that former President Donald Trump asked him to run for governor and promised to campaign for him, the AP reports.
Mastriano said he met with Trump on Monday for “an hour and fifteen minutes” at Trump Tower in New York and, among other things, discussed the governor’s race and the candidates.
“One of the worst-kept secrets in Pennsylvania politics is that Sen. Pat Toomey (R) is considering a run for governor in 2022,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“So when the Republican rolled out a plan Thursday to reopen Pennsylvania’s economy, and do it more quickly, in many cases, than Gov. Tom Wolf (D) has planned, it renewed speculation about Toomey’s intentions. Four Pennsylvania GOP insiders who spoke to The Inquirer all saw it as an attempt from the senator to show how he would lead as an executive as he weighed in on a critical issue that has raised the profiles of governors across the country.”
“A number of Republicans running for governor or senator in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania, including several who hitched their wagon to Trump’s political movement, are behind in polls by double digits, a remarkable turnabout in swing states that were key to the president’s 2016 victory,” the Washington Post reports.
“If current polling averages hold, Democrats will maintain all their Senate seats in those states, pick up a handful of House seats and, in some cases, retake the governors’ mansions.”
Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner (R) threatened his opponent, incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf (D) in a Facebook Live video criticizing the negative ads against him, CBS News reports.
Said Wagner: “Governor Wolf, let me tell you, between now and November 6th you’d better put a catcher’s mask on your face, because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes. I’m going to win this for the state of Pennsylvania, and we’re throwing you out of office.”
A new Morning Call/Muhlenberg College poll in Pennsylvania finds Sen. Bob Casey (D) crushing challenger Lou Barletta (R), 53% to 35%.
In the governor’s race, Gov. Tom Wolf (D) leads challenger Scott Wagner (R) by a similar margin, 55% to 36%.
In the generic congressional ballot, Democrats lead Republicans in the state by double digits, 50% to 39%.
Meanwhile, President Trump’s approval rate in the state is a dismal 39% to 55%.
Scott Wager (R), who is running to unseat Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) joked that the Russian government will help him win in November, in audio obtained by HuffPost.
Said Wager: “By the way, the Russians are going to help me with Tom Wolf. If I have to use Paul Manafort, I will.”
“In 2012, longtime Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek admitted he would have loved to have been one of the questioners at a presidential debate between President Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reports.
“Trebek, a native Canadian who became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998, will moderate a 45-minute debate among Pennsylvania’s 2018 gubernatorial candidates.”
Taegan Goddard
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire -- which for more than two decades has been one of the nation's most influential political news sites.
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