Several High-Profile Bucks County Republicans Come Out Against GOP Candidate For Governor Doug Mastriano

A group of statewide Republicans – including several recognizable names from Bucks County – have outed themselves as opposing State Sen. Doug Mastriano’s run for governor as a member of their party.

Rumors of the group has been swirling in political circles recently, but news broke officially Wednesday morning when it was revealed the Republicans opposing Mastriano would endorse Democrat Josh Shapiro, the Democratic state attorney general.

From Bucks County, former Congressman Jim Greenwood, former state legislator and district attorney David Heckler, and former Lower Makefield Township supervisor and seven-term State Rep. David Steil are among the group that has come out against Mastriano.

“I have proudly voted for the Republican candidate for governor throughout my life, but I cannot vote for someone as extreme and dangerous as Doug Mastriano,” said Greenwood.

In 2020, Greenwood, citing his strong conservative beliefs, threw his support behind then-candidate Joe Biden, a Democrat, and said he couldn’t vote for then-President Donald Trump.

At the time, Greenwood said Trump, a Democrat-turned-Republican, “lacks decency and honesty.” He called Trump a “conman” who created a “dark four years of division.”

Greenwood’s comments Wednesday on Mastriano were similar.

“Mastriano continues to fan the flames of division, doubling down on his threats to undermine our democracy and attacking anyone who dares to criticize him. Pennsylvanians deserve better in our next governor, and that’s why I’m proud to endorse Josh Shapiro – a man of integrity who will not only defend the foundations of our democracy, but bring people together to serve Pennsylvania,” the former congressman said.

Heckler, the former district attorney, judge, and GOP lawmaker, said he is appalled Mastriano is his party’s candidate for governor. He said he has a “very favorable view” of Shapiro, who he feels has “very intelligently dealt with governmental issues in a very smart and principled way that is far removed” from the highly partisan attitude adopted by many Democrats and Republicans.

“I think Josh is aces, and I think it would take a very good Republican candidate for me not support to support him,” Heckler said. “What we have in Mastriano is about as far removed from anybody that I would want to see in public service, let alone running my state.”

One of the most concerning things to Heckler, who has been involved in elections for decades, is Matriano’s support of false claims that former President Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

“Facts are facts,” Heckler said. “The truth matters. It matters. If we don’t have the truth, we’re really lost as a country.”

“No one who says it was fraud wants to be wrong or admit it was a bunch of bellywash,” he said of some Republicans. “But no one who believes in reality believes that election was stolen.”

Being familiar with the election process and overseeing investigations over election issues in the past, Heckler said claims of a stolen election were not possible in the manner claimed by Trump and many aligned with him in 2020 and that is why no solid evidence emerged.

Heckler joined Greenwood in not voting for Trump in 2020 because of concerns over his actions and character.

The county’s former top prosecutor said he wasn’t thrilled about voting for President Joe Biden and doesn’t agree with many of his decisions, but he feels his time in office has been better than Trump’s term.

“I wasn’t delighted to vote for Joe Biden, but I wasn’t going to have a criminal as president,” Heckler said.

Heckler also opined that he wasn’t expecting to be invited to many GOP events due his views, but said he remains a Republican and is friends with many in his party.

Several Bucks County Republicans in elected office or involved in local politics did not wish to comment on-the-record on the effort by some of their peers to throw their support behind Shapiro, but several were willing to anonymously share their concerns about Mastriano.

One said Mastriano was “Donald Trump on steroids” without the former president’s positive traits.

Another said they supported Trump, but they found Mastriano “hard to stomach.”

“He’s a populist and the establishment hates him for it,” one said. “He is a grassroots guy and we will find out if can get the votes he needs.”

From outside of Bucks County, former Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent, former Pennsylvania Supreme Court Justice Sandra Schultz Newman, former Pennsylvania Speaker of the House Denny O’Brien, former Lt. Gov. Robert Jubelirer, and former Montgomery County GOP Chairperson Ken Davis also came out Wednesday to supported Shapiro and not their party’s candidate.

Shapiro’s campaign was pleased with the Republicans stepping forward to endorse the attorney general. They said in a statement the endorsements “highlighted [Shapiro’s] long record of bringing people together to deliver real results – and Doug Mastriano’s extreme and dangerous positions that are out-of-touch with the majority of Pennsylvanians.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Wednesday that Greenwood is leading the group that plans to form a so-called “super PAC,” which is a political action committee. Heckler said he’s not involved in that process.

While Mastriano, a U.S. Army veteran has grown a loyal following, those concerned about the Republican on both sides of the aisle have raised alarm over his calls to have religion more involved in government, false claims about COVID-19 vaccines, problems with his campaign finance filings, untrue statements about the 2020 election, and once it was revealed he was past breached police lines at the U.S. Capitol during the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress, which led to him being questioned by the FBI.

Mastriano easily beat back his Republican opponents in a crowded field during the May primary and will take on Shapiro, the Democrat from Montgomery County.

The sitting state senator has framed his campaign of one to win back freedom that he believes has been lost due to Democrats and Republicans he disagrees with.

Mastriano’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment on this story.

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