‘This is a war’: Doug Mastriano and mysterious allies continue push for 2020 election audit – York Dispatch
Doug Mastriano was primed and ready to hand down subpoenas to three counties, including York, in order to gain access to voting machines as part of his quest to audit the 2020 election.
A date was set amid a flurry of activity behind the scenes as the counties and state Republican leaders responded to the provocation: Aug. 6.
Then … nothing.
Mastriano, a relatively obscure Army vet-turned-state senator who quickly built a national following as an election denier since he took office two years ago, was the first to break the silence.
Last week he referred to a mysterious betrayal in a statement issued on Facebook, his platform of choice, and claimed his audit push had “been weakened and diminished.”
“We’re not in a very good spot right now,” he said. “I put my name out there to get it done, and I’ve been stopped for the time being. If there’s a way I could do it without being stopped, a way around this momentary impediment, you know I would find it.”
More:Pennsylvania’s top GOP senator dumps Mastriano from ‘election integrity’ plan
More:Trump-fueled election ‘audit’ sparks state Senate GOP turmoil
That, in turn, prompted a somewhat uncommonly frank response from Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, who put the blame squarely on Mastriano’s shoulders.
“It is discouraging to realize that he was only ever interested in politics and showmanship and not actually getting things done,” Corman said.
Neither responded to requests for comment.
For those not directly involved in the spat — or closely following it via right-wing media — it’s easy to dismiss as political squabbling. But Mastriano is now a major figure in the universe of far-right Trump supporters, boasting his own growing contingent of loyalists and a platform that puts him in direct conflict with state GOP leadership. For comparison, Corman has just over 6,000 Facebook followers compared to Mastriano’s nearly 180,000.
And the latest rebuff by leadership hardly put an end to the audit push.
More:Mysterious ‘election integrity committee’ puts pressure on York County officials
More:Has the ‘Election Integrity Committee’ really disappeared from York County?
Instead, Mastriano and his followers have gone on the offensive, continuing to spread false information and innuendo about the legitimacy of the 2020 election. Meanwhile, a mysterious faction calling itself an “election integrity committee” has reportedly been knocking on doors in Lancaster and York counties.
“This is a war,” said Toni Shuppe, a founder of Audit the Vote PA, in a recent video posted to the messaging app Telegram, where many far-right election deniers gather.
It’s not clear how closely Mastriano and these groups are aligned — there are no obvious financial ties — but the Franklin County lawmaker has repeatedly appeared at their rallies and is a dominant presence on their social media feeds.
The message and the messenger: Ten months after the 2020 presidential election, Mastriano and fringe groups loyal to Trump’s cause are still demanding the election be audited despite widespread consensus it was legitimate.
However, while Mastriano and the groups have no issue holding rallies and spreading baseless claims about election fraud on social media, they share a common theme: a refusal to speak with the media despite their claims they are fighting for transparency.
Nick Anspach, assistant professor of political science at York College, said that it could be that transparency isn’t Mastriano’s and the organizations’ goals. Rather, he said, it could just be to boost name recognition.
“It seems self-defeating,” Anspach said. “But at the same time, it seems a bit disingenuous that those arguing for greater transparency in the electoral process don’t want that transparency process with the media.”
Mastriano, who assumed office in 2019 after handily winning a special election, has become a polarizing figure in Pennsylvania politics.
The divisive incumbent easily won reelection after an uncontested primary in 2020 and has taken the helm of a movement to challenge the results of a presidential election even many of his own party accepted long ago.
Until recently, Mastriano served as the chairman of the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee.
READ MORE: Has the ‘Election Integrity Committee’ really disappeared from York County?
He did not respond to requests for comment, nor has he ever responded to inquiries for comment from The York Dispatch since he assumed office.
A devout Christian and retired U.S. Army colonel, Mastriano had no problem winning over voters in the deep-red 33rd Senate District, which includes Hanover as well as West Manheim and Penn townships. It also includes all of Adams County and part of Franklin County.
In November, during a Senate Majority Policy Committee meeting in Gettysburg, Trump’s legal team, including his attorney Rudy Giuliani, participated in the meeting to support baseless claims of fraud.
Trump also participated by phone.
Mastriano’s personal Twitter account was suspended two days later, prompting Trump to tweet “Wow! Twitter bans highly respected Pennsylvania State Senator Doug Mastriano after he did a great job of leading a hearing on the 2020 Election fraud. They and the Fake News, working together, want to SILENCE THE TRUTH. Can’t let that happen. This is what Communist countries do!”
After another two days, during a meeting with Trump, Mastriano left the meeting abruptly after learning that he had tested positive for COVID-19, The Associated Press reported.
Now-Senate Majority Leader Judy Ward, who sat next to Mastriano during the public meeting he had organized, also later tested positive.
In an attempt to find out more about Free PA in particular, The York Dispatch attended an Aug. 7 meeting at Wisehaven Banquet Hall in Windsor Township that featured Mastriano as a speaker.
Upon entering the building, a vendor could be seen selling pro-Donald Trump and anti-President Joe Biden apparel. One sticker read “Trump is still our president.”
A reporter and photographer were kicked out of the location within 10 minutes of entering the building, which had a “no media” sign on the front door. On its website, most of its meetings also state media is not permitted.
After being told to leave, the reporter asked why the organization doesn’t allow media. A woman volunteer in a Free PA shirt said that it was a private meeting and “that is no discussion.”
“You can leave now, please. Goodbye,” she said, prompting applause from some in the building.
Mastriano’s audience: At rallies and committee meetings, Mastriano often refers to Democrats as puppets hoping to turn America’s democratic system into a Communist society. All the while, he has cited scripture and used the term “patriot” — often associated with his military service — to brand himself.
During his 2019 special election run, he sent out a number of Islamophobic messages. “Islam wants to kill gay rights, Judaism, Christianity and pacifism,” one such Facebook post read.
More than a year later, when the senator blasted local clergy and accused the religious leaders of being corrupted by leftist ideologies and “denying” the power of Christ. He promptly deleted it.
That kind of rhetoric has made him a darling of right-wing broadcasters Newsmax and One America News Network. And the relationship is reciprocal: The networks amplify Mastriano’s message without any scrutiny and he shares their reporting back to his followers.
For example, he recently shared an OANN report critical of Corman and other GOP leadership on his Facebook page, writing: “The details of who stalled the audit in Pennsylvania.”
Along the way, Mastriano has been embraced by a number of fringe groups.
His followers at rallies have often declined to be named, but data from the Department of State paints a clearer picture of who is followers are — including those charged in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Mastriano helped organize bus rides for Trump supporters on Jan. 6 to protest the election results, but he claimed to have left before the riots became violent.
State Department data shows that two other those who were charged have donated to the senator’s campaign since 2019: Sandra Weyer, of Mechanicsburg, Dauphin County, and Donald Smith, of Hanover. Both face multiple felonies related to the insurrection.
Weyer was arrested on June 28 and has a status hearing set for Sept. 8. She has donated $500 to Mastriano’s campaign since 2019.
Smith was arrested on July 29. He has donated $1,000 to the senator’s campaign during that same time period.
The lawmaker also has a close relationship with Audit the Vote PA and Free PA, two groups that appear to work in conjunction to rally election denialists in York County and beyond. Leaders of both groups did not respond to requests for comment.
It’s not obvious who is funding the two groups. Neither are registered as 501(c)(4) nonprofits.
In a video on the messaging app Telegram shortly after Mastriano’s news release, Shuppe urged supporters to “ignore the chaos” and that additional information would be coming soon.
“We’re exhausted, we’re in a battle, this is a war, but it’s going to be OK,” she said.
A trip to Arizona … and the governor’s residence?: Amid the Mastriano subpoena spat, Corman named a successor to lead the audit going forward: state Sen. Chris Dush, a Republican from Cameron County.
Dush and Mastriano have been close allies.
Earlier this year, Dush, Mastriano and Franklin County Republican state Rep. Rob Kauffman all visited Arizona to see how an audit there was playing out. It was, at least according to Dush, his idea to travel more than 2,000 miles to observe the process and take notes that could help them in Pennsylvania.
Local and national media had “blasted” the three politicians as they entered the Veterans Memorial Coliseum at the state fairgrounds for its audit of Maricopa County’s election results, he said.
“(The media) tried to ambush us, but the Arizona rangers prevented that from happening,” Dush said. “But we expressed there was going to be a chance to ask us questions after we saw what we going on. But they never (availed) themselves to the opportunity.”
The turmoil within the Republican party has led some to question the future of Mastriano’s planned election audits in Philadelphia, Tioga and York counties. All three counties previously denied Mastriano and his committee’s request for access to their equipment. Likewise, any allegations of fraud have repeatedly been proven false.
Dush said the Senate Intergovernmental Operations Committee has the votes to at least subpoena documents related to the 2020 election. But considering the fact the Department of State interfered and decertified Fulton County’s voting machines, further subpoenas could be delayed until at least November.
Dush, for his part, declined to comment on Mastriano’s personality or his burgeoning feud with GOP leadership.
Kauffman did not respond to requests for comment.
Like what you’re reading? Please consider subscribing to support local journalism.
The recent internal GOP friction hasn’t slowed Mastriano’s ascent, with recent rumors of a gubernatorial bid in 2022.
State Sen. Anthony Williams, D-Delaware, who serves as the minority chair on Mastriano’s committee, said Mastriano’s tactics likely foreshadow such a run.
“I do know what he’s trying to create,” Williams said. “A circus for his own political gain. But he’s dragged a lot of Republicans with him. It’s only about his only political gain.”
While Mastriano has developed a close following in the hothouse environment of far-right social media, it’s unclear how much support he can expect from moderate Republicans and independents.
Calls by lawmakers to audit the 2020 election have permeated throughout a significant portion of the U.S., particularly among Republicans, according to a Monmouth University poll in June.
In the poll surveying 801 adults with a 3.5% margin of error, 57% of those surveyed reported calls for an audit were partisan efforts to undermine valid election results.
Meanwhile, 33% called the concerns legitimate because of potential irregularities. But the responses were overwhelmingly partisan.
The results, however, showed a strong partisan divide.
About 61% of Republicans and right-leaning individuals said the audits were legitimate, according to the poll. Among all other respondents, just 14% agreed that they were legitimate.
There has been no evidence of irregularities in Pennsylvania’s election, nor in Arizona, where Maricopa County turned records over to a third-party audit.