A group of Pennsylvania Republicans bucked their party to support Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro for governor, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
The list includes former Republican Reps. Charlie Dent and Jim Greenwood, former state House Speaker Denny O’Brien, former Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer, and former state Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman.
The former officials are roundly opposed to Republican nominee Doug Mastriano, a state lawmaker who attended the Jan. 6 Capitol rally and has suggested he would have refused to certify Trump’s loss in the state.
Mastriano previously batted back challengers supported by moderate Republicans in his primary win, dismissing his opponents as “the swamp.”
More to come?
The only current official on the list is Morgan Boyd, the Republican chair of the Lawrence County Board of Commissioners.
Boyd said Shapiro is “the only candidate with a vision, the experience and the plan.”
“I think there’s actually a large number of moderate Republicans across the state right now who are considering either openly supporting Josh or silently supporting him through their vote,” Boyd said. “I would encourage them to use their experiences to search within their hearts and make the determination themselves that they feel is best for the commonwealth. I think that, by and large, they’ll come to the same conclusion that I did.”
Rare move:
Christopher Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, said a group of prominent officials breaking from their party is “pretty rate.”
“I think for most Republicans, they accept Mastriano as their nominee and most likely will vote for him,” Borick said, “but on the margins — and the margins are going to be very important — I think the endorsements will help Shapiro’s case in key areas.”
