Sen. Doug Mastriano opts out of Pa. gubernatorial run in 2026

State Sen. Doug Mastriano said Wednesday he won’t make another bid for governor in a livestreamed event with his wife, Rebbie.

“We remain in this fight with you and for you. We’ve prayed a lot, we’ve fasted, we’ve discussed it a lot. Many of you reached out to us, beseeching us and urging us to run,” said Mastriano during a Facebook livestream.

“But we believe, with full peace in our hearts, that God has not called us to run for governor this year.”

The Franklin County Republican ran against now-Gov. Josh Shapiro in 2022 and was resoundingly defeated. He didn’t endorse state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, saying “we’ll talk about that down the road.” She won the party’s nomination in September.

But having a Republican governor would mean that “the grassroots is going to have to back the candidate,” Mastriano said, without naming Garrity.

The Mastrianos spent most of the announcement reminiscing, relitigating the COVID-19 pandemic and recounting tales from the 2022 campaign trail without explicitly saying whether or not he’d run again. Opponents of his 2022 campaign repeatedly highlighted Mastriano’s role in supporting President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election, including his presence outside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, when rioters stormed the building and drove Congress from its chambers to disrupt the vote certification.

More than 500 people watched the hourlong video, which included 2022 campaign ads and roughly 25 minutes with the Mastrianos.

Doug Mastriano said he was still a state senator and is not up for reelection in 2026. His current term ends in 2028.

Shapiro is expected to announce his reelection campaign on Thursday. Aside from Garrity, no other Republican has announced their intention to run for governor — nor has anyone yet indicated a plan to run for the party’s lieutenant governor nomination.

Pennsylvania’s primaries will be May 19 and the general election is Nov. 3.