Doug Mastriano brings gubernatorial campaign to Westmoreland County

State Sen. Doug Mastriano made a campaign stop Friday in Westmoreland County, where he received the endorsement in his race for governor from the county’s Republican Party chairman and state Senate Majority Leader Kim Ward.

Speaking before a crowd of several hundred supporters in a clearing at the Slickville Sportsman’s Club, Mastriano railed against the state’s outgoing Democratic governor as well his opponent in November, Attorney General Josh Shapiro.

“God has blessed us with a movement. We’ve been kicked in the gut in 2020 and saw what happened with the heavy-handed edicts, and we rose up,” Mastriano said.

Mastriano, a state senator from Franklin County, outlasted a field of nine candidates in the Republican primary in May and has since been embraced by local political leaders.

Bill Bretz, Westmoreland’s GOP chairman, called for county Republicans to line up behind Mastriano.

“Life is on the ballot this year,” Bretz said. “Doug Mastriano will protect the sanctity of life, and that is worth getting out to vote for.”

Ward, R-Hempfield, following Mastriano’s nearly 40-minute speech, gave her colleague in the Senate a full-throated endorsement.

“Obviously, I’m endorsing Doug Mastriano,” Ward said. “At least I know where he stands on things. Josh (Shapiro) doesn’t tell us.”

Mastriano, flanked by American and Christian flags, criticized Gov. Tom Wolf’s leadership and argued that Shapiro would continue with the outgoing administration’s objectives.

He later outlined a platform that he said focuses on election integrity, women’s rights and elimination of the governor’s proposed Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

Mastriano never mentioned abortion in his speech. He previously said he supported out an outright ban on abortion in Pennsylvania with no exceptions for rape and incest victims or in cases where a pregnant woman’s life is at risk.

Meanwhile, he advocated for laws barring transgendered athletes from competing in women’s sports and a law that mandates bathroom use based a person’s sex at birth.

“(Democrats) want to roll back women’s rights 50 years,” Mastriano said.

Mastriano continued his calls for an audit of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania and reaffirmed his support for laws that he said will improve election integrity.

“If you ask questions about the 2020 election, you’re an election denier. Are you serious? What a stupid thing to say. The election happened, duh,” Mastriano said. “We’re going to get answers, and we are going to stay strong, and we’re not surrendering our country, and we’re going to win at the ballot box.”

He said his administration would proactively act to remove illegal immigrants from the state.

“I’ll have the state police greet them at the airport and drive them to Joe Biden’s house in Delaware,” Mastriano said.

Throughout the speech, Mastriano targeted the media, which he said had an on going bias against his campaign.

Reporters initially were kept in an area about 100 yards from the stage at Friday’s rally but eventually were allowed closer to the crowd, with a warning to not approach Mastriano or question rallygoers.

A request by the Tribune-Review for an interview with Mastriano was rejected. A campaign spokesman said Mastriano would take questions only from one other media outlet.