Democracy
David McCormick to attend a fundraiser with Jan. 6 organizer Doug Mastriano this weekend
On Saturday, Republican Senate nominee David McCormick will attend a closed-door fundraiser in Gettysburg, Pa. alongside Jan. 6 organizer and state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin).
Mastriano was not only a participant in the Jan. 6, 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol, but he was also responsible for chartering several busloads of rioters to the event. The state senator claimed to leave the event before it became an insurrection, but photo and video evidence shows him passing through police barriers after they were torn down.
Mastriano has also been an advent election denier, and he regularly spreads former President Donald Trump’s false stolen election narrative. The former candidate for Pennsylvania governor also has ties to Christian nationalism and conspiracy theories circulated by QAnon.
This is not the first time McCormick has been associated with far-right figures. In January, McCormick attended a fundraiser with Ross Stewart, a Pennsylvania Republican State Committee member and another Jan. 6 attendee. McCormick’s bus tour in February also kicked off with two prominent election deniers giving speeches.
Shameful that the featured speakers at McCormick’s #PASEN kickoff here were a who’s who’s of major 2020 election deniers:
– Russ Diamond, who fed Trump main PA VBM lie and coordinated with John Eastman
– Stacy Garrity, who rallied election deniers on Jan 5th with Doug Mastriano https://t.co/0DZRASITn2
— J.J. Abbott 🦅 (@jjabbott) February 13, 2024
McCormick has also modeled much of his immigration policy on Trump’s “America First” agenda. However, Trump has yet to publicly endorse McCormick in either of his U.S. Senate runs. In 2022, Trump supported McCormick’s primary challenger Dr. Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose to now-Sen. John Fetterman (D) in the Midterms. According to McCormick, Trump would only give him an endorsement if the former hedge fund manager agreed to publicly say that the 2020 presidential election was stolen, which McCormick refused to do.
The event details for the fundraiser specify that media and press are not permitted at the event, which will be hosted by the Adams County Republican Committee at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning.