Shapiro led Mastriano by about 11 percentage points with about 64 percent of the vote, according to NBC. He will succeed Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who reached the commonwealth limit of two consecutive four-year terms. Shapiro won after enjoying a significant financial and electoral advantage throughout the race. The Democrat raised and spent about $44 million on his campaign, more than 10 times as much as Mastriano, who spent less than $4 million. Shapiro was steadily leading in the polls heading into Election Day. He held a lead of more than 10 percentage points over Mastriano in an average of polls compiled by FiveThirtyEight. (C) Democratic candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro poses with supporters after a joint rally with Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate John Fetterman at Norris Park on October 15, 2022 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Mark Makela | Getty Images Shapiro, a Democrat, has served as Pennsylvania’s attorney general since 2017 and was previously a state representative. He has been involved in issues such as protecting access to abortion, eliminating false claims of fraud in the 2020 election, and reforming the criminal justice system to address inherent biases. Mastriano, a Republican, is a retired US Army colonel and state senator for Pennsylvania’s 33rd District. Endorsed by former President Donald Trump, Mastriano campaigned on fighting violent crime, enforcing stronger borders, implementing anti-abortion policies and taking action on Trump’s false allegations of voter fraud. He was at the Capitol during the riot on January 6, 2021. Mastriano reinforced Trump’s false claims that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and made repealing Pennsylvania’s Proposition 77 a centerpiece of his campaign promises. Act 77 is the voting law that allows absentee voting by mail in Pennsylvania. Since the presidential election, the Commonwealth has been a central battleground for allegations of electoral fraud. Mastriano’s priorities, as outlined in his campaign, focused on many of the cultural issues that Republicans have tried to leverage to boost turnout this year. He said he wanted to reverse Covid-era policies under Wolf and added that he plans to fight “medical tyranny” and immediately end all vaccine requirements and mask mandates when he takes office. He also supported plans to protect Second Amendment rights, ban the teaching of critical race theory, and ban transgender women from women’s locker rooms and sports. Shapiro, meanwhile, assured supporters that, as governor, he would veto any restrictions on mail-in voting and appoint a like-minded Secretary of State to assert those protections. Shapiro also said he would create automatic same-day voter registration for Pennsylvania residents.
