7 more Republican leaders endorse Democrat Josh Shapiro for Pennsylvania governor, following news of GOP candidate Doug Mastriano wearing a Confederate military uniform
https://www.yahoo.com/news/7-more-republican-leaders-endorse-100000407.html
Seven more Republican leaders have announced their endorsement for Pennsylvania's Democratic candidate for governor Josh Shapiro, following photos of GOP state Sen. Doug Mastriano wearing a Confederate military uniform.
- Seven more Republican leaders have announced their endorsement for Democrat Josh Shapiro.
- This comes one month after nine Republicans called his GOP opponent Doug Mastriano an "extremist."
- A photo obtained by Reuters showed Mastriano posing in a Confederate military uniform.
This comes one month after nine Republicans vowed to support the Democratic candidate and called Mastriano an "extremist" who threatens American democracy.
According to a statement released by the Shapiro campaign on Tuesday, the group includes Michael Chertoff, the former US Secretary of Homeland Security under President George W. Bush, and Mario Civera, a former state representative.
Shapiro, the state's attorney general said he was proud to receive the endorsement from these GOP leaders "who are putting our Commonwealth ahead of partisan politics in order to come together and move Pennsylvania forward."
In the press release, Chertoff, the former US Secretary of Homeland Security said while he's a long-standing Republican, he is "deeply troubled by Doug Mastriano's embrace of dangerous extremism."
"Josh Shapiro, on the other hand, is a staunch defender of our democratic institutions and will lead Pennsylvania with honor and integrity. I am proud to support his campaign for Governor," Chertoff said.
Other Republicans backing Shapiro include former Pennsylvania House Speaker Denny O'Brien of Philadelphia, former PA state Rep. Dave Steil of Bucks County, and current Lawrence County Commissioner Morgan Boyd.
A photo obtained last week by Reuters, showed Mastriano posing in a Confederate uniform for a faculty photo at the Army War College three years before retiring from the US Army in 2017.
Retired Army colonel Doug Mastriano, a Republican state senator from Pennsylvania who is running for governor, poses at left in a Confederate uniform in a 2013-14 faculty photo at the U.S. Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, U.S. April 9, 2014. The photo was released by the Army War College to Reuters on August 26, 2022 under the Freedom of Information Act. Mastriano retired from the Army in 2017.Army War College/Handout via REUTERS.
(My thoughts - note how nobody wants to stand near the idiot)
The Donald Trump-backed candidate was first elected in 2018 and has become popular among right-wing activists for mocking herd immunity and falsely suggesting the COVID-19 vaccines are not true vaccines.
Mastriano's campaign did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.
Read the original article on Business Insider
Ad in Pennsylvania governor's race shows Republican in Confederate uniform
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ad...ws-republican-confederate-uniform-2022-09-14/
Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro on Wednesday plans to debut a new online ad aimed at Black voters that features his Republican rival posing in a Confederate military uniform, the campaign told Reuters.
The ad features a photo first reported last month of Doug Mastriano, a Donald Trump-backed candidate and state senator, wearing the uniform in a faculty photo at the Army War College. The photo obtained by Reuters showed Mastriano in a 2013-14 portrait for the Department of Military Strategy, Plans, and Operations, where he worked. read more
Faculty at the time had been given the option of dressing as a historical figure and at least 15 of the 21 faculty in the photo opted to appear in regular attire. Mastriano was the only one wearing a Confederate uniform.
Mastriano, who has not responded to Reuters requests for comment, came under fire from Shapiro, who said it was a "traitor's" uniform that has come to symbolize racism.
The new ad features a close-up view of Mastriano in the Confederate uniform with a voice over that notes the War College said the photo failed to meet the War College's values.
"Does it reflect your values?" the narrator asks.
The six-figure ad campaign is part of $1.2 million that Shapiro, the state's attorney general, has budgeted for digital ads.
Pennsylvania plays an outsized role in U.S. politics as a swing state in presidential elections, and Mastriano, who has embraced Trump's stolen election lies, is trailing in polls and in fundraising ahead of the Nov. 8 contest.
The winner of the governor's race will choose the state's top elections official, who will oversee its 2024 presidential election. The governor will also have the power to block or advance efforts by the Republican-led state legislature to severely restrict abortions.
Displays of Confederate symbols are painful reminders to many of racial oppression and the Civil War, which saw 11 rebelling Confederate states fight to keep Black people enslaved.
The U.S. military issued a de facto ban on displaying the Confederate flag and has sought to remove segregationist symbols from bases and academic institutions following the murder in May 2020 of George Floyd, a Black man whose killing by a white police officer in Minneapolis triggered protests worldwide.
The War College removed the photo from a display after Reuters inquired about it.