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Shapiro Enters Summer With Huge Cash Lead

Josh Shapiro, Doug Mastriano

Josh Shapiro enters the summer with a huge cash-on-hand lead over Doug Mastriano in the race for the Pennsylvania governor’s mansion.

Shapiro, the Democratic nominee and current state attorney general, has $13.478 million on hand, according to the post-primary campaign finance report to the Department of State. He raised $4.66 million in the period from May 3 to June 6.

Mastriano, the Republican nominee and current state senator, begins the general election with $397,319. He pulled in $162,000 over the same 35-day period.

“That’s a bad sign for Mastriano,” said political scientist Sam Chen. “He needs to court those GOP donors he lost during the primary or he won’t be able to get his message out effectively.”

Shapiro received 4,930 individual gifts under $250 and 1,091 over that threshold. Twenty of those donations were over $20,000, including a top donation of $500,000 from Jennifer Duda of Menlo Park, Calif. Six-figure gifts were also taken in from Unity Technologies CEO John Riccitello ($200,000) and Cooper House clinical director Lisa Mennet ($100,000).

The former Montgomery County commissioner also pulled in $1.07 million from political action committees, including $500,000 from the Democratic Governors Association and $160,000 from the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, AFL-CIO.

Mastriano received 148 individual gifts above $250 and 368 between $50-250. Twenty-nine states were represented among the smaller gifts, while two donors made five-figure donations – Heller Capital Group LLC ($15,000) and Benjamin Beiler of Millerstown, Pa. ($10,000).

“Fundraising rate aside, Mastriano needs to make up ground quick,” said Chen. “I’m not a consultant who believes that the money race is all that important, but you need enough cash to get your message to your targeted voter pool. Being statewide, especially in a diverse state like ours, makes this pricier. If Mastriano can’t get that message out, he’s in trouble.”

“Statewide races in Pennsylvania are heavily driven by media campaigns,” said Terry Madonna, Senior Fellow in Residence for Political Affairs at Millersville University. “That certainly puts Mastriano at a huge disadvantage. Also, the Republican Party establishment made a huge effort to deny him the nomination. So, another challenge is to unite the party behind him.”

6 Responses

  1. During the May primary, I was handing out Dem lit at a polling place. The Republican committee people were supporting Dave McCormick. When the subject of Doug Mastriano came up, they were quite animated in their opposition to him. One of them said, unequivocally, that Doug was a criminal for his efforts on Jan 6th and overall behavior to overturn the 2020 election… and that he belonged in jail.

    That’s a pretty strong statement for a Republican committee person, and particularly to admit it out loud. That doesn’t not bode well for Doug the Thug.

  2. Dung Mastriano should be penniless in the political gutter where he lives.

  3. Ding Dong Doug’s message that he wants to get out is “I want to change Pennsylvania from The Keystone State to The Handmaids Tale State”. Oh and by the way Ding Dong Doug is an Insurrectionist. And has anybody noticed yet that he still hasn’t publicly embraced his Lt Gov running mate?

    1. He has no running mate…just a lying opportunist who has sold herself to the white elite for the last time.

  4. “Statewide races are driven by media campaigns” says Terry Madonna. This passes for political insight these days…”The Republican establishment made a huge effort to deny him the nomination…challenge is to unite the party behind him…” Again, wisdom in action. Terry Madonna later added, “The Mona Lisa is a famous painting and in the winter it often snows so we must always have warm clothing.”

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