Extremist. Conspiracy theorist. Christian nationalist. These are just a handful of the titles that the mainstream media has pinned on GOP gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano as we close in on the November 8th general election. The governor’s race is by many accounts the most consequential contest on the ballot in Pennsylvania.

Josh Shapiro, the Democrats’ nominee, is the media’s darling, an often fawned-over champion with very few blemishes or wrinkles, so we’re told. Shapiro is a “once in a lifetime” candidate, according to Pennsylvania’s own Salena Zito. A glimmering Politico centerpiece already has Shapiro lined up to be president. He just needs to win the Pennsylvania governor’s race first. 

How presumptuous.

Mastriano, on the other hand, is “dangerous” and “extreme.” These claims that paint Doug with broad strokes, leverage half-truths, and manipulate his records and words are clearly out of touch with most of us in Pennsylvania. If you recall, Mastriano was allegedly “anti-science” for fighting Covid lockdowns. Now, science seems to have vindicated him, the best defense coming from a January Johns Hopkins study that concluded the lockdowns weren’t worth it, all things considered. 

Then there’s the “Christian Nationalist” Mastriano, who, according to the media, seeks a “takeover of the state” by force. Such an assertion is fanatical and desperate, and as a conservative church leader myself I can tell you it’s a lot of hot air. The newest and perhaps most outlandish claim is that Doug is an “anti-Semite” because of his supposed ties to the social media platform Gab, which apparently may include commentary that is suspect. Incriminating Doug Mastriano for views that someone else may have on a platform of 1.1 million users is silly and doesn’t deserve headline coverage.

You’d be hard pressed to convince hundreds of thousands of people across all 67 counties that Doug and his team have visited this campaign season that he’s too extreme. I’m convinced that there’s two versions of reality at play here: the media’s sensationalized narrative of a cultish boogeyman that will surely destroy Pennsylvania; and the kind, determined, war veteran that has packed fire halls, convention centers, barns, and living rooms for the past half year.

This second version is the reality I know.

The message Doug heralds is clear and it resonates with people. Pennsylvanians deserve better. We need not get sidetracked by peripheral arguments or be duped by clever TV ads. We can’t remove our gaze from what this race is actually about: Democratic policies that have failed and continue to fail, miserably.

The nation’s top Democrat, President Joe Biden, has presided over record inflation, a sharp uptick in crime and lawlessness, a crisis at the border with no plan in place to improve the situation, horrific foreign policy debacles, and has repeatedly focused his energy on things that Americans statistically care much less about than food prices and safe communities.

This departure from common sense applies to Pennsylvania as well. We continue to be among the least attractive places to live and do business, taxing and regulating our businesses and corporations like none other.  And, although we sit on a gold mine of natural gas that could safely and affordably power the rest of the U.S., Democratic leadership in our state continually overregulates and even blocks the extraction, production and delivery of it. We’re effectively living through an “energy crisis” while all of the energy we need is just below our feet. 

That sounds pretty extreme to me.

This is why I think we need to define “extreme.” Is it extreme to believe in rule of law while Philadelphia suffers from the worst spike in gun violence that it’s perhaps ever experienced, in the words of their own beleaguered DA, Larry Krasner? Is it extreme to believe that parents should be involved in their child’s education? Well, not according to the more than three-quarters of parents who, when polled, think they should.

What’s actually extreme is the elimination of funding to state pregnancy centers, as the Pennsylvania Democrats just called for in a letter. This same group enthusiastically endorsed their guy, Josh Shapiro. What’s really extreme is trusting Shapiro, the top law enforcement official in the state, to fix the problem he presided over and ushered in: rampant crime and lawlessness.

Extreme is as extreme does. We’ve seen extreme democratic policies in our state and country drive up costs, crime, and government overreach. The only person who can reverse Pennsylvania’s extreme course and restore her to the great keystone of our union is Doug Mastriano. We have a duty to our families to protect our commonwealth from the real extremists seeking space in the governor’s mansion. That’s why I’ll be voting for Doug Mastriano on November 8th.

Joe D’Orsie is the Republican nominee for state representative in the 47th legislative district.