Doug Mastriano is considering a run for U.S. Senate despite getting walloped by double digits in last year's Pennsylvania gubernatorial race.
The right-wing state senator and retired Army colonel gave a rare interview to Politico, saying he had amassed a "movement of 2.2 million" supporters that he wasn't ready go give up, and he was "praying" and consulting with his wife Rebbie about a possible Senate campaign.
“We’ve seen people in the past, other Republican gubernatorial candidates, they rise and they disappear when they lose. Why?” Mastriano said. “You have people that love you and support you.”
Mastriano, should he get the green light from God and his wife, would enter a Republican primary for the right to challenge Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who's been in the Senate since 2007 and whose father, former Gov. Robert Casey Sr., signed abortion regulations that largely survived a landmark Supreme Court challenge.
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“I think he’s a huge disappointment -- he’s nothing like his dad,” Mastriano said. “His dad was more pro-life than most Republicans.”
Mastriano didn't concede his loss for five days after the election, and he now says Republicans should embrace no-excuse mail-in voting, which he hates but believes ultimately cost him the race.
“It’s just so — 'repugnant' [is] the wrong word — it’s just so antithetical to how I view elections,” he said.
Mastriano is holding a rally Saturday in central Pennsylvania that will feature Donald Trump lawyer Christina Bobb and conservative media personality Wendy Bell, and he hired failed Maryland gubernatorial candidate Dan Cox as his chief of staff, which has raised speculation that he's aiming for higher office.
“Hmm,” he said, laughing. “Gute erkennung. As the Germans say, ‘Good deduction.’”
