With billboards across Pennsylvania, a big-spending national committee that is connected to the Never Trump movement and high-profile neoconservatives is hoping to convince Republicans that it's OK to cross party lines to support Democrat Josh Shapiro in the gubernatorial race.
The Republican Accountability PAC — a group that exists in a network of messengers and activist organizations that sprouted after Donald Trump's victory in 2016 — is putting up more than 30 billboards on Tuesday as part of its overall $2 million spend in Pennsylvania hitting Republican Doug Mastriano.
The billboards feature the headshots of Republican voters, past and present, who say they’ll vote for Mr. Shapiro. There are six in the Pittsburgh area and numerous others in Philadelphia and Harrisburg. The PAC is spending $10 million in total to combat candidates it deems “anti-democratic” in several crucial swing states.
It’s indicative of a larger trend. With just weeks to go until the Nov. 8 election, national organizations continue to see the midterms in Pennsylvania as a litmus test for how popular Mr. Trump remains, given that Mr. Mastriano is backed by the former president and played a key role in efforts to audit the 2020 election.
One of the PAC’s billboards reads, “I’m a conservative. I’m a gun owner. I’m voting Josh Shapiro,” and shows a picture of a man named James, of Farmington, Fayette County.
The subject of the billboard, James Carmine, told the Post-Gazette on Monday that he feels betrayed by his party and doesn’t believe the GOP represents his values anymore. Pittsburghers might remember Mr. Carmine’s name: He was a Republican candidate for mayor in 2001, losing to Tom Murphy.
Mr. Carmine is a self-described neoconservative and a registered Democrat, changing his registration after the rise of Mr. Trump in the GOP. He said the Jan. 6 Capitol riot was unforgivable, and though he is “embarrassed” that he’s a registered Democrat after all these years, he sees it as a moral duty.
“A Republican is a person who will put his life on the line for inalienable natural rights,” said Mr. Carmine, choking up in tears and apologizing for getting emotional.
Asked how he came to be involved with a national PAC, Mr. Carmine said he sought it out himself — and that Bill Kristol, a prominent neoconservative and longtime power broker in the conservative think tank space, is one of his idols. Mr. Kristol is chairman of the PAC’s board.
The committee is one of many groups funded in the Never Trump movement that are, many times, funded by deep-pocketed philanthropists and longtime political activists from both parties. They’re the type that are criticized by today’s mainstream GOP for being RINOs, “Republicans In Name Only,” who are faux conservatives and out of touch with the grassroots of the party.
Mr. Mastriano has repeatedly railed against the Republicans who have united against him, saying they’re out of touch with the real energy of the party. The start of the anti-Mastriano movement began before the May primary ended, when establishment GOP types tried to band together around an alternative to his candidacy.
The PAC frames itself as a fighter against “anti-democracy candidates” across the U.S., and insists that the former president’s loyalists “must be held accountable,” according to its website.
In an interview earlier this year, Gunner Ramer, the group’s political director, told the Post-Gazette that the PAC is hoping to reach conservatives who believe today’s GOP is incredibly extreme and no longer the party of Ronald Reagan. He noted that Mr. Mastriano would have the power to appoint a secretary of the commonwealth who will oversee the administration of the 2024 election.
“We are going to be playing heavily in this state,” Mr. Ramer said at the time.
Mr. Ramer, at the time, didn’t indicate that the PAC would back Mr. Shapiro — it’d at least oppose Mr. Mastriano, he said. The billboards signal a shift in tone.
Mr. Carmine said he understands why some of his fellow longtime Republican connections are backing candidates like Mr. Mastriano. They feel that the Democratic Party doesn’t care about them, and as a result, there’s visceral dislike for their candidates.
The PAC is trying to reach those voters, especially those who “resemble college-educated suburban moderates who sort of feel politically homeless,” its political director said.
The group played a key role in Brad Raffensperger’s win over the Trump-backed candidate, Jody Hice, in the Georgia secretary of state race, according to The New York Times.
First Published: October 11, 2022, 10:00 a.m.
