'A nightmare that no one wants': GOP fears Mastriano's down-ballot drag in Pennsylvania

Source: Politico

07/27/2025 10:00 AM EDT


President Donald Trump’s team is worried it has a Doug Mastriano problem on its hands. Trump’s advisers privately fear the far-right firebrand could cost Republicans the elusive Pennsylvania governor’s seat and, were he to win the nomination, drag down the GOP ticket in the midterms next year, four Republicans familiar with their thinking said. Each was granted anonymity to speak frankly as they monitor the battleground race and consider their next moves.

Republicans blame Mastriano for costing the party a Senate contest, multiple House seats and a state legislative chamber in 2022 when he lost by 15 points in Pennsylvania’s gubernatorial race. Now he’s teasing a comeback bid against Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro. With as many as four GOP-held House seats in play in the state, Republicans believe Mastriano’s name atop the ballot would threaten their chances of keeping their slim majority in the lower chamber.

A person close to Trump’s political operation — one of the four aforementioned Republicans — described the president’s team as “very concerned” that a Mastriano campaign “could jeopardize or add to the jeopardization of multiple down-ballot congressional races.”

Pennsylvania Republicans went even further, saying a Mastriano candidacy would all but certainly unleash a bloodbath across the state next November. “If he’s our nominee, we lose four House seats,” Pennsylvania-based GOP consultant Josh Novotney said. “He’s a nightmare that no one wants.”

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/27/republicans-mastriano-down-ballot-fears-pennsylvania-00478155