Sour Grapes
February 19, 2024
I knew the truth all along, but others have finally heard it straight from the horse's mouth.
The energy and resources I should be using to help Republicans win back the majority in the PA House of Representatives will instead be squandered on a contested primary election because of sour grapes, and sour grapes alone.
My opponent is not running against me because of the consistent and conservative taxpayer-friendly votes I've cast. She's not running against me because of my 100 percent pro-life and pro-2nd Amendment record in Harrisburg.
And she's not running against me because of my leadership in being the first to stand up against Tom Wolf's Covid lockdown tyranny and then working tirelessly to amend the constitution so it never happens again.
The Real Reason
Nope, she's running against me because I didn't support Doug Mastriano for Governor during the 2022 primary election. She revealed this in front of a group of about 20 elected Lebanon County Republican Committee members on February 8th.
She's mad that I voted for a different Republican in that primary election. And she's really mad at me for telling the truth about Mastriano back then: that he would not just lose to Josh Shapiro, but would also cost Republicans the majority in the PA House.
She also stunningly claimed that because I didn't back him during the 2022 primary, I was supporting Shapiro. She's new around here, so maybe she doesn't understand how primary elections work in Pennsylvania.
I voted for a different Republican, not for Shapiro. Once Mastriano became the Republican nominee, I offered him help (an offer he never took me up on) and even paid $1100 to sponsor a Lebanon County Republican dinner where he was the featured speaker.
Stop and consider her crazy logic for a second or two.
My opponent sincerely believes if you weren't a full-fledged member of Team Doug and voted for a different Republican in the 2022 primary, you're a Shapiro supporter. According to her, 56 percent of all 2022 Republican primary election voters are her sworn enemies, as Mastriano only received 44 percent of that vote.
Beyond Belief
This is the most delusional and naive political theory I've ever heard, and it looms as a dark cloud over our party's chances in 2024, when we can least afford it.
With Democrats holding a 450,000 voter registration advantage in Pennsylvania, we need every Republican pulling in the same direction to win the presidency, a US Senate seat, three statewide row offices, the PA House majority, and to defend our majority in the PA Senate.
Instead, my opponent wants to sidetrack everyone in the 102nd District with a circular firing squad, all because I spoke the truth about a guy she's been following around like a puppy dog for nearly four years.
The Sour Grapes in Her Bunch
My opponent's particular bunch of sour grapes is a rogue's gallery of her fellow malcontents. Joining her at the top of the vine is Mastriano himself, who headlined her sparsely-attended campaign announcement.
Also speaking at the event was a self-proclaimed conservative voice from Bucks County who called me "a cancer" to the Party and also implied that I supported Shapiro.
For her campaign committee chairman, she picked a guy still smarting from the defeat I handed him in the 2016 Republican primary.
Together, they brought in fake internet tough guy Teddy Daniels - Mastriano's ill-advised handpicked 2022 running mate and a complete con man - to rehash old gossip about me that Lebanon County voters have utterly rejected not once, but twice.
My opponent has now taken to featuring that gossip whenever she gets a chance, which belies the veil of righteousness she tries to claim when referring to herself as a "pastor's wife."
Her campaign manager is yet another Mastriano groupie from Lancaster County, who also revels in reposting and rekindling those old failed character attacks.
A Bitter Echo Chamber
Behind the scenes and hidden from public scrutiny is a secret society my opponent and two other malcontents run on Facebook to spin story lines and test conspiracy theories about what they think really goes on in politics.
This secret group is a hijacked remnant of the former Lebanon County chapter of FreePA, an organization originally founded to honorably fight against Tom Wolf's Covid lockdowns.
Sadly, most of FreePA later succumbed to the Mastriano cult of personality. Despite its veil of secrecy, my opponent's offshoot group still ironically contains the word "freedom" in its name.
Rounding out my opponent's bunch of sour grapes are various bitter Mastriano and Daniels hangers-on from all over Pennsylvania, whose forte is blindly parroting everything all of the above say as Gospel and barging into conversations on social media in a desperate attempt to raise her public stature.
2022 Was a Disaster - Let's Not Repeat It!
Mastriano's political inexperience and campaign mismanagement cost Republicans a great deal in 2022, including the PA House majority by a mere 63-vote loss in a Montgomery County swing district.
My opponent, who served as his campaign coordinator here in Lebanon County, matched his dismal statewide effort by delivering 6500 fewer votes for him than the rest of the Republican ticket received in the county.
Mastriano's merry band of malcontents – under the banner of my opponent - now threaten to cause us even more damage in 2024 by forcing solid conservatives to waste resources on costly primary fights.
It's nothing but sour grapes, plain and simple.
Onward and Forward
I will enthusiastically put all my time and energy into securing a primary victory on April 23rd, but I would much rather be using my resources and skills to ensure an overall Republican sweep of Pennsylvania in November. Every dime spent on my primary race is a dime we won't be able to spend in November.
Everyone is free to run for office. I get it. But when someone runs for the sole purpose of carrying out a grudge that will negatively impact Republican prospects in November, it's a losing proposition all around.
I humbly ask you to join me on the WINNING team, because together we can leave these sour grapes in the waste bin where they belong and get down to the business of moving Pennsylvania and America in the right direction.
