Democrat Josh Shapiro (left) and Republican Doug Mastriano (right) will face off in the 2022 Pennsylvania governor's race
“For education, the more consequential primary election [on Tuesday] was about the governorship,” said Dr. Marc Meredith, an associate professor of political science at the University of Pennsylvania.
Doug Mastriano, former president Donald J. Trump’s pick for the state’s governor, won the GOP primary. Prior to Trump’s endorsement, Mastriano was already ahead in the race. He will challenge Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor in November.
“Going forward on the governor’s side, I would expect higher education to become a contentious issue if Mastriano wins, particularly if the GOP also gets control of the state legislature,” said Dr. J. Wesley Leckrone, a professor of political science at Widener University, a private university with campuses in Pennsylvania.
Meredith agreed. Since 2015, Democrat Tom Wolf has been Pennsylvania’s governor. A sea change could be underway, though he and Leckrone noted it remains too early to tell who will win.
“For the last seven years or so in Pennsylvania, we’ve had a Republican state legislature and a Democratic governor, so pretty much any legislation coming out of the state has to be bipartisan at some level,” said Meredith. “But if we were to reach a spot in Pennsylvania where we had one party with unified control of both the governorship and state legislature, then I think there would be a lot of potential policy changes for education and other key issues.”
Mastriano has repeated and promoted Trump’s lies about widespread voter fraud—which was nonexistent—in the 2020 presidential election. In addition, Mastriano was outside the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 insurrection. The House committee investigating the Capitol riot has already subpoenaed him.
