If you heard a loud exhale last week coming from Capitol Hill, it was probably Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Steve Daines and other GOP leaders after disastrous 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano passed on a 2024 Senate bid after a lengthy flirtation.
Following Mastriano’s somewhat surprising announcement — he had teased “crazy good news” — the candidate that national Republicans very much want to be their nominee instead, former hedge fund executive David McCormick, put out a statement confirming he is “seriously considering a run.”
So while we can’t exactly call the Keystone State a recruitment win yet for Republicans, the key for Republicans this year to avoid the same pitfalls of 2022 may be getting potentially problematic candidates like Mastriano not to run.
Sources we had talked to in recent months speculated that McCormick might be hesitant to run again should he have to face Mastriano in a primary, not wanting another dogfight redux of his 2022 GOP battle with celebrity TV Dr. Mehmet Oz, to whom he lost
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