No Concession From Mastriano After Lopsided Loss In PA Governor's Race

PENNSYLVANIA — In what has slowly become the norm in the era of election denying and limitless election lawsuits, State Sen. Doug Mastriano has not yet conceded the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race to Josh Shapiro.

That's despite the nearly 700,000 vote difference between the two candidates, the largest margin in a state race in Pennsylvania in some time. While mail-in votes are still being tallied, the Democratic Attorney General Shapiro has 2,848,520 to Mastriano's 2,162,954.

In what has recently been a tight swing state in which major races were decided by just thousands of votes, a 700,000 difference is enormous.

Mastriano reportedly remained optimistic that he would still win during an election night rally with supporters, even after the Associated Press and other outlets had called the race for Shapiro.

"We are going to have faith and have patience and wait until every vote is counted, he said, according to NBC Philadelphia. "We look forward to celebrating with you."

But unlike the Republican primary for U.S. Senate between Mehmet Oz and David McCormick, the gap between the two candidates is not nearly close enough to justify any dubiousness. It's not remotely as close as the recent major elections in the state, such as President Joe Biden's victory in 2020 over President Donald Trump (a margin of under 100,000 votes) or as President Donald Trump's even narrower victory in 2016 over Hillary Clinton.

Oz's own race Tuesday night against John Fetterman was far closer, with a gap of only about 177,000 votes. Yet Oz conceded Wednesday morning, calling Fetterman and releasing a statement saying the campaign had been a "great honor."

Mastriano has not given any further public comment. It remains unclear if there will be a similar bout of protests from the right in the courts or in the media over mail-in balloting and the legitimacy of the election, as there was in 2020 and 2021.

As of late Wednesday morning, Mastriano's Twitter account has no activity since the polls closed Tuesday save for one retweet that appears to ask for more Republicans to think of Mastriano in similar terms to new far-right darling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. He also shared a Facebook post of himself on a horse with the words "Saddle up."

Mastriano was one of numerous major Republican gubernatorial around the country who refused to concede after losses Tuesday, including Lee Zeldin in New York and Tudor Dixon in Michigan.

Shapiro, meanwhile, declared victory. "Real freedom prevailed in Pennsylvania," he said. "I’m humbled and proud to be your next Governor."