(C) Democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro poses with supporters after a joint rally with Democratic candidate for the United States Senate John Fetterman in Norris Park on May 15 10, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Mark Makela | beautiful pictures
Josh Shapiro won the race for governor of Pennsylvania, defeating Republican Doug Mastriano and keeping the state office in Democratic hands, NBC News predicts.
Shapiro will succeed Democratic Governor Tom Wolf, who has reached the limit of the commonwealth for two consecutive four-year terms.
Shapiro won after gaining a significant financial advantage and votes during the race. The Democrat raised and spent about $44 million on its campaign, 10 times more than Mastriano, who spent $4 million less.
Shapiro consistently leads the polls ahead of Election Day. He has a 10 percentage point advantage over Mastriano in average of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight.
Democrat Shapiro has served as attorney general of Pennsylvania since 2017 and previously represented the state. He has run issues like protecting access to abortion, defeating false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, and reforming the criminal justice system to address biases. inherent.
Republican Mastriano is a retired United States Army colonel and state senator in the 33rd District of Pennsylvania. Endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Mastriano has campaigned on plans to fight violent crime, enforce stronger borders, implement anti-abortion policies and act on false claims. of Trump on election fraud.
He’s on the grounds of the Capitol on January 6, 2021, riots.
Mastriano amplified Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, and made Pennsylvania’s repeal of Proposition 77 a central focus of his campaign promises. Proposition 77 is a voting law that permits voting by mail without reason in Pennsylvania. Since the presidential election, the commonwealth has become a central battleground for allegations of election fraud.
Mastriano’s priorities, as listed in his campaign, focus on many of the cultural issues that Republicans have tried to capitalize on to boost voter turnout this year. He said he wanted to reverse Covid-ranking policies under Wolf, and added that he planned to fight the “medical tyranny” and immediately end all vaccine requirements and face covering duties when he took office. He also advertised plans to protect Second Amendment rights, banning the teaching of critical race theory and transgender women in women’s locker rooms and sports.
Shapiro, meanwhile, assured supporters that, as governor, he would veto any restrictions on voting by mail and appoint a like-minded secretary of state to assert that protection. Shapiro also said he will create automatic and same-day voter registration for Pennsylvanians.
