“The fate of democracy isn’t just a missing question this week or a popular topic on the anniversary of Jan. 6. It has been an ongoing question for a year in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s party has worked to overhaul elections after he lost the state by 80,000 votes and launched a Senate committee investigation a year after the presidential election.”
PENNSYLVANIA — The first GOP primary debate for Governor was a crowded and messy ordeal featuring COVID-19 disinformation, climate change denial, support for a curriculum of “teaching creation” in schools, and attacks on Harrisburg Republicans’ dysfunction, but one question ripping through the GOP Party — and dominating “the Trump primary” — was noticeably missing.
Despite the surplus of far-right candidates packed into two rows on a no-where-near-big-enough stage, the Beaver County Times highlighted the elephant in the room over the hour and a half debate, “there weren’t any questions or answers about Jan. 6 or whether they would choose preserving democracy over self preservation.”
In case you missed it, check out this analysis of the first GOP gubernatorial debate featured in the Beaver County Times:
Beaver County Times: The most important question wasn’t asked at first Pa. GOP debate for governor
By Candy Woodall, 01/06/22
The answers from a Dickinson College stage Wednesday night reflected a bygone era, a time perhaps 10 years ago when the big debates in Pennsylvania were about taxes, school choice and energy.
Though many Republicans are eager to recall a time when they were the party of the business sector, the more immediate past continues to haunt them as the divided party of Trump.
As 13 Republican hopefuls for governor squared off in their first debate, two were noticeably missing: former Congressman Lou Barletta and state Sen. Doug Mastriano, former President Donald Trump’s two closest allies in the race.
And on the eve of Jan. 6, one big question was missing, too: As governor, will you uphold the will of the people?
It could have been asked at any point during the 90-minute session in Carlisle, even during the yes-or-no lightning round. Also, none of the candidates addressed the issue in their closing statements.
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There weren’t any questions or answers about Jan. 6 or whether they would choose preserving democracy over self preservation.
A ‘blueprint for democracy’
The only Democrat running to replace Wolf is state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who has won multiple statewide elections, including in counties that President Joe Biden lost in 2020.
Shapiro on Thursday morning — a year after the Jan. 6 violence at the U.S. Capitol — released a 10-point plan dubbed the “blueprint for democracy.”
“Democracy is on the ballot this year,” he said in a statement. “That’s why a patriotic plan to defend our right to vote is the first policy we’re releasing in this campaign.”
In his blueprint, Shapiro said he will veto any effort to restrict mail-in voting, appoint a secretary of state who will run elections fairly, expand county election audits and establish early in-person voting, among other plans.
His push comes as state Republicans, including some on the debate stage last night, want to repeal the mail-in voting they previously approved unanimously.
Trump’s election lies continue
Pennsylvania Republicans voted for mail-in voting in October 2019. They changed their opinion on it after Trump claimed it was a vehicle for fraud, an unproven claim that has been rejected by dozens of conservative and liberal judges alike.
The fate of democracy isn’t just a missing question this week or a popular topic on the anniversary of Jan. 6. It has been an ongoing question for a year in Pennsylvania, where Trump’s party has worked to overhaul elections after he lost the state by 80,000 votes and launched a Senate committee investigation a year after the presidential election.
It’s been a major issue in Pennsylvania, but one most candidates haven’t wanted to discuss, at least not on the record. But privately they describe the challenge of a former president who continues to push 2020 election lies and punish those who don’t enable him.
Mastriano, who is set to launch his bid on Saturday, wouldn’t answer or even hear any of the USA TODAY Network’s questions about how he would preside over elections as governor.
The state senator from Franklin County has pushed Trump’s election lies in Pennsylvania, organized buses to the “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the insurrection, was photographed just outside the Capitol during the violent attack and continues to call for a “full forensic audit” in Pennsylvania. He has met with Trump and campaigned with Rudy Giuliani, the former president’s personal attorney. Mastriano has said Trump wants him to run.
Behind the scenes, many Republican candidates say they are concerned Mastriano could win a primary with a small, passionate following but would lose big to Shapiro in a general election because the majority of the state simply doesn’t subscribe to Trump election conspiracies.
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A ‘state to watch’
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Pennsylvania is unique in that the governor appoints the secretary of state, who oversees elections. In many other states, the secretary of state is an elected position.
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The Brennan Center for Justice, a nonpartisan law and policy institute in New York and Washington, D.C., has listed Pennsylvania as a state to watch in 2022.
“Pennsylvania’s legislature passed one wide-ranging restrictive bill this year, which the governor vetoed. Thirty restrictive bills are carrying over into the 2022 legislative session,” the Brennan Center said in its report late last month.
The center also noted the governor’s race this year and that “four of the restrictive carryover bills are constitutional amendment proposals that would enable state legislators to get restrictive voting laws on the books without the governor’s review.”
Pennsylvania is also among battleground states where a “questionable partisan review” is taking place of the previous presidential election.
“A Pennsylvania state senator who was present at Capitol Hill during the January 6 insurrection has since used the ‘results’ of this questionable review to push for further restrictive voting legislation,” the Brennan Center said, referring to Mastriano.
Mastriano and many Republicans aren’t talking about Jan. 6 or its aftermath.
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