Trump cost Republicans two very winnable offices in Pennsylvania

Trumpism died in Pennsylvania on Election Day.

Leading into this election, I predicted Democrat Josh Shapiro would win by 9 points and Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz would narrowly win by 2 points.

Gov.-Elect Shapiro ran a tremendous campaign, but he would’ve won even if he had run a bad one.

Republican nominee Doug Mastriano made it easy and lost by double-digits in a supposed red year. Normally, that would be unthinkable, but a strategy of running on so-called election integrity, hiding from the media and relying on divine intervention will go down as the worst American gubernatorial race of the 21st century. And it’s only 2022.

Likewise, U.S. Sen.-Elect John Fetterman also hid. He hid the severity of his stroke with his wife calling it a “small hiccup” in the immediate aftermath. He would take back his constitutional powers only days after a serious heart surgery, though he now acknowledges he nearly died.

How he could’ve run Pennsylvania had something happened to Gov. Tom Wolf will remain a mystery. Fetterman then hid for months while campaigning on social media, refused to release his medical records, and only agreed to a late debate after most mail-in ballots were already cast. His performance was shockingly bad, but he successfully ran out the clock.

There are a lot of people outside Pennsylvania questioning how people in our commonwealth could elect Fetterman. Let’s be clear: Our voters aren’t dumb. They know all about Fetterman and still voted for him because of their dislike for President Donald Trump’s candidate — celebrity physician Mehmet Oz – and Fetterman’s support of Roe v. Wade.

We know this because Fetterman’s numbers in suburban Philly and rural Pennsylvania outperformed estimates.

So, the big loser here is the Republican Party, which never stood up to Trump. My conscience is clear. I voted for Lou Barletta for governor and David McCormick for Senate.

Virtually any of the other GOP candidates could’ve beaten Shapiro. And McCormick wins easily. But Trump and his fellow election-deniers saw to that.

They force-fed us Mastriano and he dragged down the entire ticket. And if projections hold, he shockingly cost Republicans the state House, despite a seemingly insurmountable 23-seat advantage.

Only hardcore partisans would deny that Trump had some tremendous success as president, but as someone who voted for him twice, it’s also fair to say he ruined his legacy when he threw a tantrum and refused to admit that he legitimately lost the 2020 election.

Trump’s selfishness manifested itself once again when his behavior discouraged Georgia Republican voters from turning out for the Jan. 5, 2021, runoff elections, costing the Republicans control of the U.S. Senate.

He then did his best to ensure Republicans would lose the Senate again this year by pushing weak candidates like Oz and Herschel Walker and then torpedoing moderate Republicans such as Joe O’Dea in Colorado.

That has led to an inconvenient truth for Trump supporters: Everything President Joe Biden has pushed through Congress is Trump’s fault. He handed Democrats the majority, and it’s time for Trumpers to acknowledge this. It’s also time to stop calling moderate Republicans RINOs (Republicans in name only) and find common ground. Parties are supposed to have big tents with differences. Debate is a good thing. Instead, the Trump Way has turned Republicans against one another.

Trump is the single biggest reason Republicans lost two very winnable offices in Pennsylvania on Tuesday night. Many of us saw it coming. Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. To Democrats.

David La Torre, a Republican and communications professional, writes from Camp Hill, Pa.

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