GOP's Mastriano rallies Erie supporters with 25 days to go in PA governor's race

Republican nominee Doug Mastriano told Erie-area supporters he would create an economic "renaissance" in the state, drastically reduce regulations on his first day in office, ban abortion with no exceptions from the point of conception, and address a range of other culture war issues if he's elected governor on Nov. 8.

"We're going to shock all the prognosticators in politics and all of those commenting on how things should be run, and can be run. We're going to take our state back by storm," said Mastriano, 58.

Speaking to about 350 supporters on Friday evening at the Bayfront Convention Center, 1 Sassafras Pier, Mastriano railed against his Democratic opponent, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, blaming him for a rise in crime, record homicides in Philadelphia and a high number fentanyl deaths.

No vaccine or mask mandates

He mocked Shapiro and incumbent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who is term-limited, for shutting down businesses, mandating masks and — in some cases — requiring vaccines for state employees during the COVID-19 pandemic. He promised, if elected, that "all mask and jab requirements will be gone forever."

Shapiro has said that he personally opposed mask and vaccine mandates and would not impose such requirements as governor, but he would try to educate the public on how best to protect themselves, according to the Associated Press. In that same interview, Shapiro called school and business closures "an area where I think folks got it wrong."

Transgender issues

Mastriano on Friday repeatedly verbally attacked transgender people and elected officials like Shapiro who have supported them. Mastriano said he would ban transgender transition surgery for minors, protect "women from male domination" in high school sports and "ban boys" from using girls' bathrooms.

Mastriano, who released a campaign ad last week that — among other things — criticized the Pennsylvania Department of Education for including guidelines on its website to help teachers with gender identity issues among students, also said Friday that he would ban "pronouns" from the classroom and "graphic porn in our elementary schools."

Environment and natural gas pipelines

He committed to withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative — a pact among 11 states, currently, that is aimed at reducing CO2 emissions from power plants — and cut the number of regulations to under 100,000 from more than 150,000 now.

Mastriano also outlined a plan to run pipelines through Erie and Philadelphia to export liquefied natural gas, which he said will create scores of jobs.

"We have the potential here to have a renaissance in our state economically and a renaissance in our country with Pennsylvania leading the way," he said.

Mastriano, who went past police barricades blocking protestors from the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and who was the most prominent Pennsylvania legislator to spread former President Donald Trump's election fraud conspiracies after the 2020 election, also vowed to address "election integrity" by pushing for stricter voter ID laws, which won applause from the audience.

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'Yes, we're being outspent. So what?'

With 25 days to go before voters go to the polls, Mastriano and his running mate for lieutenant governor, Carrie Lewis DelRosso, said they felt their campaign had enough momentum and support to beat Shapiro, despite the Democrat's large cash advantage.

The Associated Press reported Friday that Shapiro had "smashed" the state record for campaign spending set by Democrat Ed Rendell in the 2001-2002 cycle. Shapiro has spent $44 million compared to under $3 million spent by Mastriano.

"The Democrats get it, unlike several establishment Republican groups," he said, an apparent reference to a lack of support from some party leaders, who in the spring made a last-ditch effort to derail Mastriano's momentum in the days leading up to the GOP primary, fearing that his campaign couldn't win in November.

"Yes, we're being outspent," he told the crowd. "So what?"

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A series of recent polls show Mastriano trailing Shapiro by double digits in the gubernatorial race. One poll that has not given Shapiro such a wide lead, conducted by Republican firm the Trafalgar Group, has shown a much smaller lead for Shapiro, which Mastriano has said puts him within the poll's margin of error, according to video of a speech he gave recently.

Friday's public rally in Erie was the first for Mastriano, a state senator from Fayetteville, Franklin County, R-33rd Dist., since the GOP primary. He's been to Erie five times since launching his campaign, he said Friday.

A former Army colonel, Mastriano was introduced and accompanied on stage by his wife Rebbie, who took her turn speaking about women's rights, saying that even though Democrats have claimed to be the champions of women's rights that it's Republicans who are fighting to protect them.

"We carry the torch on that," she said.

Rebbie Mastriano said the GOP supports a woman's right "to be born," have a say in their child's education, have access to baby formula and affordable groceries, raise a family in a safe community and in a country with secure borders. She said the party is also protecting a woman's right to free speech under the First Amendment and her right to bear arms under the Second Amendment.

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DelRosso, R-33rd Dist., which includes a portion of Allegheny, urged attendees to knock on doors, make calls and register people to vote. She told them to talk about the issues "Democrats don't want to talk about: inflation, law enforcement and what they're teaching our kids in our schools."

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More:Update: Shapiro calls on Mastriano to rescind invitation to alt-right operative Jack Posobiec

Alt-right political operative Jack Posobiec

The GOP ticket of Mastriano and DelRosso weren't the only ones to speak Friday at the "Restore Freedom Rally." It also featured former U.S. Naval officer, alt-right political operative, commentator and conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec.

Ahead of Friday's rally the Shapiro campaign, which has criticized Mastriano for his ties to extremists like Andrew Torba, the founder of the social media site Gab, called on the Republican to rescind his invitation to Posobiec, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center has said has a history of spreading misinformation and debunked conspiracies, and collaborating with "white nationalists, antigovernment extremists, members of the Proud Boys, and neo-Nazis."

Posobiec on Thursday took aim at Shapiro on Twitter, where he has 1.8 million followers.

"Mr. Big Boy himself @JoshShapiroPA is hopping mad that I am speaking in PA tomorrow!" Posobiec wrote. "Let's settle this in person. Be a man, show up and defend yourself. I'll pay for you to fly first class to the event. I'll even buy you a booster seat for the plane."

At Friday's rally, Posobiec, who is a former correspondent for One America News and now works for Human Events, repeated his taunt.

During his 30-minute speech, Posobiec laid out what he called an "eight-point plan to destroy Pennsylvania," a list of grievances that he accused Democrats of following.

His "plan" included destroying industry and the energy sector; letting gangs take control of cities; flooding the state with drugs; dividing neighborhoods by race and cultural issues like critical-race theory and "wokeism."

He also included sexual "experimentation" in schools which he called "atrocious, repugnant" and blamed on former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health Rachel Levine, a transgender woman who now serves as assistant secretary of health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services — Mastriano also mocked Levine Friday for being named among USA Today's "Women of the Year."

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Posobiec said the last two points in his eight-point "plan" include "deconstructing" election laws through the use of mail-in ballots, among other things, and "criminalizing dissent." He pointed to the FBI's arrest in late September of an antiabortion activist who is accused of twice assaulting a volunteer escort at an abortion clinic in 2021.

"I guarantee you right now, they're working on all eight, but it only takes one way to save Pennsylvania — elect Sen. Doug Mastriano," Posobiec said as the room erupted in applause.

Shapiro campaign responds

Will Simons, a spokesperson for the Shapiro campaign, noted that the attorney general has received the endorsements of the Pennsylvania State Troopers Association and Erie County Sheriff Chris Campanelli, among others.

"As attorney general, Josh Shapiro has arrested over 8,000 drug dealers, seized over 7 million doses of heroin and fentanyl, broken up interstate gun trafficking rings, and led the fight to close the ghost gun loophole," Simons said in a statement. "He has a proven record of holding criminals accountable, and that’s why police officers, state troopers, and local law enforcement leaders across the Commonwealth are supporting his campaign.

“Doug Mastriano, on the other hand, has called banning abortion with no exceptions his 'number one issue,' sought out support from antisemitic extremists, and stood with the mob and crossed police barricades on Jan. 6," Simons continued. "He’s way too extreme for Pennsylvania.”

Matthew Rink can be reached at mrink@timesnews.com and on Twitter at @ETNRink.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: In Erie, GOP governor candidate Mastriano talks pipeline, culture wars