News & Brews May 16, 2022
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CP joins ‘last-ditch effort to help Barletta stop Mastriano’
The Inquirer reports that a “major GOP group is ditching Bill McSwain, joining a last-ditch effort to help Lou Barletta stop Doug Mastriano.” The group referred to is Commonwealth Partners and our connected political action committee, Commonwealth Leaders Fund. “It’s become abundantly clear in recent days that nominating Lou Barletta for governor is Republicans’ best chance to defeat Josh Shapiro in November,” said CP President and CEO Matt Brouillette, who also noted that CP will continue its call for McSwain and Dave White to withdraw from the race and also back Barletta. This comes as on Saturday, former President Trump endorsed Mastriano for governor.
Lt. Gov. John Fetterman recovering after stroke
Lt. Gov. and U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman was hospitalized on Friday after his wife, Giselle, observed concerning symptoms. In a video released later, Fetterman said, “I had a stroke that was caused by a clot from my heart being in an A-fib rhythm for too long.” He noted doctors were able to remove the clot, and “The good news is I’m feeling much better, and the doctors tell me I didn’t suffer any cognitive damage.” He emphasized he plans to return to the campaign trail. We wish Lt. Gov. Fetterman a speedy and full recovery.
Here are latest polls in GOP Senate, gov primaries
Yesterday, Emerson College Polling released new polls in the GOP primaries for U.S. Senate and governor. On the Senate side, Mehmet Oz leads with 28%, Kathy Barnette is in second place with 24%, and David McCormick has 21%. In the governor’s race, Mastriano leads with 34%, followed by Lou Barletta at 22%, with 15% undecided. Read more here.
(More) gloves come off in Senate primary
As Kathy Barnette has surged into second place behind Mehmet Oz in the GOP Senate primary, Oz is increasing his criticism of Barnette. In the latest round, Oz takes issue with a 2015 tweet from Barnette in which she said, “Pedophilia is a Cornerstone of Islam.” Oz, who is Muslim, called the tweet “reprehensible” and said it should be “disqualifying.” Read the story here.