Pennsylvania Democrat gubernatorial candidate Josh Shapiro – the likely nominee for his party – is running ads promoting Republican Doug Mastriano, involving himself in the GOP primary and signaling who he wants to run against as a weaker target.
Shapiro, who is presumably the Democrat nominee for governor since he is running unopposed in the primary, released an ad titled “Win For Trump” as a pro-Mastriano ad ahead of the Republican primary on May 17.
The Democrats, with a $16 million war chest, originally spent $950,000 for two ads touting his accomplishment as part of a $2.7 million Shapiro has booked so far to be on air.
Since the initial ad went up on the air by Shapiro, it appears that he has increased his spending by more than 50 percent to help – by spending $500,000 as part of a last-ditch effort to drive Republican voters to the polls – in his favor to vote for someone he would rather run against in November.
Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (D) at a Stand Against Hate rally at Independence Mall on March 2, 2017, in Philadelphia. (Jessica Kourkounis/Getty Images)
The pro-Mastriano 30-second ad is an attempt to show how closely aligned his political ideologies are with the former president, who is still popular in the state. The ad touts outlawing abortion, ending voting by mail, and having an audit of the 2020 election in the state.
While a move like this is not unusual by an opponent of the opposite party, the move signals they the Democrat is trying to run against the person the ad is for, such as Mastriano, as if they would be a weaker candidate.
A Republican operative involved with one of the other candidates told Breitbart News that “Pennsylvania Republicans don’t want Democrat Josh Shapiro picking their candidate for governor.”
“Josh Shapiro is helping Doug Mastriano more than he has done for himself in an entire year,” the Republican operative continued to tell Breitbart News.
In less than two weeks, on May 17, nine Republicans will run in the GOP primary for the nomination and advance to the November election, when they will face the Shapiro as the likely Democrat nominee.
While there are nine Republicans in the primary, Mastriano and former Rep. Lou Barletta have led the polls for the majority of the campaign cycle.
Jacob Bliss is a reporter for Breitbart News. Write to him at jbliss@breitbart.com or follow him on Twitter @JacobMBliss.
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