It was really quite a sight.
Moments after the networks and the Associated Press called the race for Doug Mastriano, he was out delivering a victory speech and beaming from ear to ear.
With the backing of Donald Trump, he’d managed to defeat a field of as many as 14 candidates, most crucially former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania Bill McSwain, and former Representative Lou Barletta.
He said his campaign had been “under siege” from opponents and members of the media who don’t “like groups of us who believe certain things, and they paint us in these awful descriptives”.
“We had the hardest working campaign in this primary,” he told supporters. “And we’re going to have the hardest working campaign in this general election.”
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It would otherwise have been quite unremarkable, expect that Mastriano, 58, a right-wing state senator who was present for Trump’s January 6 speech that preceded the storming of the US Capitol has been one of the most outspoken critics of his state’s election system, and those elsewhere.
He loudly repeated Trump’s false claims that the election had been rigged.
“There is no one in Pennsylvania who has done more, or fought harder, for Election Integrity than State Senator Doug Mastriano,” Trump said in his statement of endorsement “He has revealed the Deceit, Corruption, and outright Theft of the 2020 Presidential Election, and will do something about it.”
After the 2020 election, in which Biden won Pennsylvania and its 20 electoral college votes 50 - 49, Mastriano was one of 10 Republican state senators to call for delaying certification of the Electoral College and also said that the state legislature in Pennsylvania had the “sole power” to nominate electors.
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He also called loudly for an audit of the Pennsylvania vote, and visited Republicans in Arizona, another state Biden won where Trump-loyalists carried out several recounts, none of which changed the outcome.
In an op-ed last summer, in which he outlined why he thought an audit was necessary, he said: “Millions of Pennsylvanians have serious doubts about the accuracy of the 2020 General Election.”
So, what has changed from then to Tuesday night? Why do Mastriano and all the other previous deniers who won their races, now believe the election process is fair.
He did not explain so during his election speech. The Independent sent an email to his staff, and his campaign asking for an explanation. There was no reply at the time of publication.
As it was, not everyone who claimed that the former president had been a victim of election fraud, appeared content with what happened in Pennsylvania.
That person was Trump himself, who backed not only Mastriano but Mehmet Oz – TV’s “Dr Oz” – who was narrowly trailing GOP rival Dave McCormick in the race to be the candidate for Senate. It is likely there will be a recount.
In a statement on his own Truth Social network, he claimed there were irregularities with mail-in ballots, presumably to the detriment of his man.
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“Here we go again! In Pennsylvania, they are unable to count the Mail-In Ballots,” he wrote. “Our Country should go to paper ballots with same day voting. Just done in France, zero problems. Get Smart America!!!”
Notably, he also nothing about Doug Mastriano.