How embracing Trump's election lies turned a 'political nobody' into a rising GOP star

Trump-loving Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano is a rising star in Republican politics -- and it's all because he's gone all-in on former President Donald Trump's lies about the 2020 election.

Politico reports that Mastriano was a "political nobody" until last year when he hopped aboard Trump's "stop the steal" bandwagon and began promoting the president's conspiratorial falsehoods about the 2020 election.

"Having hitched himself to Donald Trump's election fraud lie, his fortunes have changed dramatically," reports Politico. "Rudy Giuliani recently headlined a fundraiser for him. Over the weekend, Mastriano finished first in a gubernatorial straw poll at the conservative Pennsylvania Leadership Conference."

Carl Fogliani, a GOP strategist based in Pittsburgh, tells Politico that Mastriano is being rewarded by Republican base voters who all want to hear that Trump actually won the presidency despite losing it by more than 7 million in the national popular vote and by 74 votes in the electoral college.

"The hard-core base -- Mastriano's playing to it," he said. "He has a following among core activists, and he's trying to grow it out."

David Becker, executive director of the nonpartisan Center for Election Innovation & Research, lamented to Politico that Mastriano's rise is a sad reflection of the way lies and extremism are heavily rewarded by Republican voters.

"A year ago, would anyone have known Mastriano's name out of a 50-mile radius of his district?" asked Becker, who lumped Mastriano in with "a large segment of grifters that are looking to cash in" on election conspiracy theories.