Senator Doug Mastriano is considering another run for Pennsylvania governor, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported today.
The next Pennsylvania gubernatorial election will take place on November 3, 2026. Mastriano told The Inquirer that another campaign is “definitely on the table” and that he has spent time determining what went wrong in his 2022 bid. He said he learned that Republican candidates need to embrace mail voting to win in Pennsylvania.
“Where I fell short, and where we failed, was not just the establishment — I think I focused too much on that,” Mastriano, a former U.S. Army colonel with top-secret clearance, said. “Where I lost it was the mail-in votes. Me and my team did not embrace that new reality. … That’s where we blew it.”
The article notes that Governor Josh Shapiro of Abington, who is up for reelection in 2026, beat Mastriano by nearly 15 percentage points in the last election.
From the article:
Many top Pennsylvania Republicans have expressed a desire to more seriously challenge Shapiro — who broke the state’s campaign-spending record in 2022 and has been floated as a presidential contender in 2028— which Mastriano believes is possible with him at the top of the ticket after learning some critical lessons from the 2024 presidential election.
At least one other Republican has signaled an intention to campaign for governor in 2026: U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R., Pa.), who said he is considering a run. Treasurer Stacy Garrity — who in November received the most votes of any candidate for statewide office in Pennsylvania history — has not ruled out a run.
Mastriano remains a staunch Trump supporter today, waking up every day since the presidential inauguration “with a smile” and he believes that his possible candidacy reflects Pennsylvania’s excitement for Trump.
He has modeled some of his recent legislation off of Trump’s executive actions, such as a bill he is working on inspired by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency for a Pennsylvania version of the commission led by the legislative branch and row officers.
For Mastriano’s biography and career summary, you can click here.
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