Pennsylvania’s closely-watched Senate race is proving to be a nail biter right up to the end. Currently, CNN reports that the race is still too close to call between former hedge fund manager David McCormick and Trump-endorsed celebrity heart doctor Mehmet Oz.
As vote counting continues Wednesday morning, the margin between McCormick and Oz was around 1,400 votes. Kathy Barnette, who had surged in the polls in the last days of the campaign, placed a distant third.
Elsewhere, Trump’s endorsements have been a mixed bag of wins and losses.
Dave McCormick and Mehmet Oz are neck-and-neck in Pennsylvania's GOP Senate primary.
Here's how the race looked at nearly 97% reporting👇 https://t.co/pzBMQ9fA4Q pic.twitter.com/MHybyQv6U1
— POLITICO (@politico) May 18, 2022
As Americans have come to expect, the Keystone State also had inexplicable election issues, like not enough staff to man polling places and unreadable ballots.
State Sen. Doug Mastriano, also a Trump-endorsed candidate, won the GOP Gubernatorial primary. Mastriano will go up against Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro in November.
Mastriano has been relentlessly attacked by both Republicans and Democrats for his efforts to investigate the 2020 election.
Some Democrats appear convinced that he will “overturn” 2024 Democrat election results. It is fairly amusing.
We need to be very clear on this point:
If Doug Mastriano becomes governor of Pennsylvania, there is almost no chance that a Democrat who wins the state in 2024 will get his or her electors certified.
Here's why:https://t.co/TNAdd5TMQS pic.twitter.com/MHJv8bYYi0
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 12, 2022
This same individual is apparently also trying out focus group lines, such as “election denialist,” “insurrectionist,” and “Christian nationalism.”
Don’t be surprised if you start seeing those phrases pop up more frequently.
Stop calling Doug Mastriano an "election denialist." Let's be clearer: He's an insurrectionist who's running to use the office to ensure that a Dem presidential candidate never wins his state as long as he's governor. Key to this is Christian nationalism:https://t.co/yS7T5jbJuE
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) May 18, 2022
We know Democrats are always vigilant about “democracy.”
Why is Shapiro so important for 2024? Because the PA Governor appoints the PA Secretary of State, who oversees elections.
If radical Trumper Doug Mastriano gets to appoint that SOS, it may indeed be SOS for American democracy.
— Tristan Snell (@TristanSnell) May 18, 2022
But he’s not just an “insurrectionist,” he’s also a “COVID denier.”
If you are going to report on Doug Mastriano you have to mention that he is a retired Army Colonel who was a 6 Jan insurrectionist, a Q believer, and a COVID denier. He's not some innocuous veteran.
— Bearded Boomer 🐻 🇺🇦 (@barefootboomer) May 18, 2022
Some Democrats are also mixing the brand-new metaphors.
Disgusting that a January 6er could be our next governor. A QAnoner. An election denier. A Big Lie proponent.
Folks, the governor of PA—a critical swing state—could conceivably help overthrow an election. Doug Mastriano definitely would.
PLEASE support @JoshShapiroPA!
— Melissa Quinn Amour🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@MelissaAmour72) May 18, 2022
North Carolina is one Donald Trump will have to place in the loss column.
Incumbent Rep. Madison Cawthorn was defeated by State Sen. Chuck Edwards. Cawthorn was on the receiving end of a coordinated drip-campaign run from the media and, apparently, North Carolina Republicans.
After Cawthorn said on a podcast that politicians in D.C. engage in cocaine-fueled orgies, suddenly there were many Cawthorn scandals that had just been miraculously discovered.
Many North Carolina Republicans not only openly criticized him, but threw their support behind Cawthorn’s opponents. Once thought to be a rising GOP star, Cawthorn became the youngest candidate ever elected to Congress in 2020 at age 25.
His troubles also came in the form of North Carolina Democrats who filed a lawsuit against Cawthorn seeking to bar him from office based on a civil war-era clause in the 14th amendment stating that no one involved in a “insurrection” is eligible to hold elected office.
If you want payback for what they did to @CawthornforNC, focus on taking out more RINOs like @NancyMace.
— Wendy Rogers (@WendyRogersAZ) May 18, 2022
While the media will glom onto a defeat of Cawthorn and Dr. Oz, should he lose his Senate bid, as a sign of Trump’s endorsement power fading, the real news is that Trump candidates actually did fairly well Tuesday night, winning 22 of 25 candidates he endorsed for the Senate, House, and governorships.
Bo Hines won the GOP Congressional primary in North Carolina’s 13th district. Also in North Carolina, Rep. Ted Budd won his primary to vie for retiring Sen. Richard Burr’s seat in November.