Neil W. McCabe –OAN National Correspondent
UPDATED 7:09 AM PT – Friday, August 19, 2022
(GETTYSBURG, PA.) The retired Army colonel and state senator running as the Republican nominee for Keystone State governor told One America News he is excited to rally Friday with Florida Republican Ronald D. DeSantis in Pittsburgh.
“Oh, it’ gonna be fantastic,” said state Sen. Doug V. Mastiano, who spoke to OAN from the Gettysburg battlefield, which is part of his district.”
DeSantis’ team contacted him two weeks, and asked him if he wanted to join him at the rally, which is part of the governor’s tour sponsored by Turning Point Action, he said.
“I’m like, are you kidding me? Heck yes, because my goal as governor of Pennsylvania is to make the Florida of the North because he set the gold standard for the good a governor can do–leading a state as opposed to what we have in Pennsylvania,” said the state senator, whose includes the home and library of President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
“Our goal here is, of course, to spotlight Ron DeSantis on his visit here and show us the way Pennsylvania could become under such strong leadership,” he said.
The state senator said Pennsylvania’s Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf and his party’s nominee to succeed him, Josh Shapiro, are the opposite of DeSantis.
“These guys are shut down people,” he said. “They sued to keep kids masked up. They sued to keep businesses shut down, they even sued nuns—you believe that? I mean, who sues nuns?”
Mastriano said he expects a great crowd, because Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania are Trump Country.
“Remember that rally that Donald Trump did in, uh, Butler a couple of years ago? Something like 50,000 people showed up. I mean, it was amazing,” he said.
“The support that that’s out there–Pittsburgh is no longer the sea of that it once was, you know, the Democrat party has left the hardworking Americans behind,” he said.
“It’s a fact, the Democrats used to have a two million registration advantage in Pennsylvania,” he said. “Now, it’s less than less than half a million.”
The combat veteran said the reason Republicans are catching up is that the Democrats have left the political middle behind.
“The party’s too extreme for America.”