Midterm results: Josh Shapiro beats Doug Mastriano to become Pennsylvania’s next governor
Samantha-Jo Roth
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Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro beat Republican Doug Mastriano to become Pennsylvania’s next governor, succeeding term-limited Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.
Shapiro has been a successful fundraiser and has a record of winning statewide races. Alternatively, Mastriano, a far-right election denier, is known for his views on controversial issues and regularly attacks members of his own party. Days ahead of the election, President Joe Biden and former President Barack Obama hit the campaign trail with Shapiro and Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman in North Philadelphia. Meanwhile, Trump campaigned for Mastriano and Republican Senate candidate Mehmet Oz in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
Shapiro, a former state representative and county commissioner, is in his second term as Pennsylvania attorney general. Shapiro has pointed to his record fighting fraud and corruption and exposing abuses in the Roman Catholic Church, while painting Mastriano as too extreme to be Pennsylvania’s governor. Mastriano, who is endorsed by Trump, has focused his criticism of Shapiro on increasing crime rates, a problem in Pennsylvania and across the country. He also has blamed Wolf and Shapiro for COVID-19 shutdowns.
The race between Shapiro and Mastriano was one of the biggest tests of Trump’s election denialism on the ballot this cycle. The state senator introduced a failed resolution after the former president lost Pennsylvania in 2020, falsely claiming that it was the Republican-controlled legislature that gets to determine which candidate won the state’s electoral votes. He also chartered buses to the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that eventually led to the attack on the Capitol.
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Shapiro led Mastriano in the Pennsylvania governor’s race throughout the campaign, and his lead remained in the double digits going into Election Day, according to an average of polls from FiveThirtyEight.
Democrats have controlled the governor’s office for the past eight years. Pennsylvania has not had consecutive Democratic governors since 1955.