Doug Mastriano, Florida's Ron DeSantis focus on crime, pandemic closures at Pittsburgh rally

Over one thousand people attended a rally in Downtown Pittsburgh on Friday evening where Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis criticized Democrats over rising crime rates and boasted about Republicans’ record for keeping schools open during the pandemic.

DeSantis, who has been floated as a potential presidential candidate for 2024, talked about his own record in Florida. But he also repeatedly praised Mastriano and said that Republicans in Pennsylvania need to unite behind Mastriano as well as the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate, Mehmet Oz.

The speeches touched on these broad issues, but also included mentions of some red meat to the very conservative crowd in attendance at the Wyndham Hotel in Downtown. The rally was hosted by conservative group Turning Point Action.

“We can never ever surrender to ‘woke’ ideologies,” DeSantis said. He said that Mastriano as governor would serve as protections against President Joe Biden and Democratic Party policies.

In a short speech before DeSantis, Mastriano said his campaign was about what the media and his opponent, Democratic candidate Josh Shapiro, aren’t talking about. He blamed Shapiro, who is currently serving as the state’s attorney general, for rising crime rates throughout Pennsylvania.

“They don’t want to talk about my opponent’s record as attorney general on crime,” said Mastriano. “They don’t want to talk about the criminals they let lose, even murderers.”

Mastriano also criticized the media directly for their coverage of his campaign.

“Media, shame on you for amplifying and perpetuating hate,” he said.

The Republican candidate and state senator from Franklin County has come under hot water for advertising on Gab, a social media platform that is popular with white nationalists and was used by the accused Tree of Life mass shooter.

Mastriano also spoke about his goals for the governor’s office, including slashing regulations for fossil fuel companies, and promising to exit Pennsylvania from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a pact with several other Northeastern states to place a price on each ton of carbon released into the atmosphere during generation of electricity.

He also touched on several other conservative priorities, including deporting undocumented immigrants from the state, and opposing vaccine mandates and school masking.

DeSantis spoke about his father’s roots in Aliquippa and joked about Western Pennsylvanians’ love for visiting and moving to Florida.

He spoke for significantly longer than Mastriano, but he also focused his speech on crime, election law, border security, vaccine mandates, and school closures.

He boasted about his own record as Florida governor, and talked about the importance for conservatives to elect Mastriano in Pennsylvania.

“We need someone to stand up against violent crime, and mandates, and a governor that is gonna stand up to Biden’s failed policies,” DeSantis said in praise of Mastriano.

Despite focusing on Republican accomplishments like keeping schools open during the pandemic, neither Mastriano or DeSantis mentioned overturning Roe V. Wade, arguably conservatives biggest accomplishment since Biden was elected.

In the past, Mastriano has called abortion his “number one issue” and he said abortion in Pennsylvanian should be illegal, without any exceptions.

The Tribune-Review spoke to some of the people who attended. Their reasons for supporting Mastriano varied from wanting overturn Pennsylvanian’s mail-in voting law to making abortion illegal to opposition to school closures.

Jennifer Kernick traveled to Pittsburgh from Erie County; she said she had never been involved in politics before the school closures. She said she was drawn to both Mastriano and DeSantis because of their advocacy to keep schools open during the pandemic. Since the closures have subsided, she said she has stayed involved with school boards over advocacy against Critical Race Theory and gender identity issues.

“Education is the biggest thing for me,” said Kernick.

The event could serve as a campaign fundraising tool for the Mastriano campaign, which has trailed far behind Shapiro since the start of the general election.

According to the most recent campaign finance reports from June, Mastriano had about $400,000 cash on hand. By comparison, the Shapiro campaign had about $13.5 million cash on hand.

Mastriano reportedly held a private fundraiser with DeSantis before the rally.

According to a Fox News poll released in late July, Shapiro was leading the governor’s race with 50% support compared to Mastriano’s 40%.