Pa. GOP gubernatorial candidate Jake Corman to drop out of race, source says

Pennsylvania’s Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman is expected to announce Thursday that he is dropping out of the governor’s race and will be endorsing Lou Barletta to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee, according to a source familiar with the campaign.

Corman, whose rankings in the polls have been lagging in the crowded nine-person field for the GOP nomination, wants to see the party come together and elect a candidate who can beat presumptive Democratic nominee Josh Shapiro in November for the open governor’s seat, the source said. In Corman’s mind, that is Barletta, a former Hazelton mayor and U.S. congressman.

“We have a chance to elect a governor in November and the only way that can happen is if they elect someone who can win,” the source said. “Jake believes it’s time for him and his fellow candidates to unite behind Lou.”

Republican rival Doug Mastriano has emerged in the polls as the frontrunner with Barletta at times a distant second. Fears are rising within party ranks that if Mastriano were to win the nomination, he would lose by double digits to Shapiro.

Party insiders met earlier in the week to discuss the idea of coalescing around an alternative to Mastriano in hopes of heading off a victory for the far-right senator from Franklin County, according to a report in The Philadelphia Inquirer.

This is the second time the 57-year-old Corman, who is retiring from the Senate at the end of the year after serving six four-year terms, has decided to withdraw from the race. He went so far as to file paperwork to have his name removed from the ballot but he said former President Donald Trump reached out to him and encouraged him to stay in the race and fight.