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Doug Mastriano concedes Pa. governor’s race in statement

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster Pennsylvania Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano speaks during his election night campaign gathering at the Penn Harris Hotel in Camp Hill, Pa., Tuesday, Nov. 8.

State Sen. Doug Mastriano has formally conceded his defeat to Attorney General Josh Shapiro in the Pennsylvania governor’s race.

“Difficult to accept as the results are, there is no right course but to concede, which I do, and I look to the challenges ahead,” Mastriano wrote in a statement released Sunday evening. “Josh Shapiro will be our next Governor, and I ask everyone to give him the opportunity to lead and pray that he leads well.”

The tone of the concession statement brought a conventional end to a campaign that was marked by the unconventional from the start and was often marked by a steady diet of barbed taunts from Mastriano about everything from Shapiro’s height to his upbringing as the son of an accomplished physician.

Shapiro, in his turn, had lashed out at Mastriano as representing the kind of election-denying extremist whose election would pose an existential threat to democracy.

Shapiro’s campaign overwhelmed Mastriano’s underfunded and strategically flawed effort, resulting in a landslide 56.1 percent to 42.1 percent margin that is the largest in an open-seat gubernatorial election here since 1946.

Shapiro was able to claim victory before midnight on Election Day.

Mastriano, a retired U.S. Army colonel who rose to prominence as an opponent of what he considered over-reaching coronavirus mitigation orders and then grabbed headlines as a state-level leader in former President Donald Trump’s push to contest the 2020 presidential election, said Sunday he is accepting the election results.

But Mastriano also continued to argue that more reforms are needed to election administration in Pennsylvania, and pledged to try to be a part of that solution, stating:

“In my role as a State Senator, I will do my very best to help Josh Shapiro deliver that to Pennsylvanians and, if he does, I will be the first to acknowledge and applaud his achievement.”

Mastriano thanked everyone involved with his campaign, from his wife and constant campaign trail companion, Rebbie, to Lt. Gov. running mate Carrie DelRosso, to his campaign staff and its many volunteers to the roughly 2.2 million people who voted for him.

And he also took a shot at defending his often-unorthodox campaign, writing:

“I will admit that Rebbie and I have not taken the easy road. We chose to be exactly who we are, knowing full well the nature of politics. But we are resolute in our convictions and steadfast in our belief that everyone should walk as free people.

“Freedom is never won easily, and it is never won once and for all. It’s a fight that never rests. Rebbie and I will be in that fight every step of the way.”

Shapiro will take the oath as the 48th governor of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg on Jan. 17, 2023.

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