Mastriano Says He’ll “Smoke Little Josh Like a Bad Cigar” During Campaign Stop in Tamaqua

Pennsylvania State Sen. Doug Mastriano says he’d “smoke Little Josh like a bad cigar” if he ever got the chance to debate him before the election for Governor in November.

But it doesn’t seem like that’s going to happen.

Mastriano stopped at The Station House in Tamaqua on Monday night for a campaign fundraiser event (to which we weren’t invited, so we watched it on the Facebook). He’s set to face Josh Shapiro, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, in the General Election on November 8.

Mastriano Visits Tamaqua on Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Campaign Trail

The Republican candidate said Shapiro won’t debate him because that’s part of the Democrat playbook these days in elections. Indeed, that’s what Democrat candidate for Senator, John Fetterman, is doing to Mehmet Oz. Fetterman won’t debate Oz.

Mastriano compared Democrats like Shapiro to the Borg, a notorious Federation rival in Star Trek. The Borg dominated planets and people by essentially sucking the life from them and making them part of an NPC collective.

And that’s the picture Mastriano painted of Pennsylvania if Shapiro were to win in November.

“Resistance is futile,” he said. “Energy is our key out of this darkness.”

Mastriano added that Shapiro is a duplicate, a Mini Me of current Gov. Tom Wolf. And if elected, Pennsylvanians can expect more Wolf politics from Shapiro.

“That’s a glimpse behind the curtain of Josh Shapiro,” Mastriano said, reminding those attending Monday in Tamaqua that it was Wolf, Shapiro, and all their pals that forced businesses to close and workers to stay home during the COVID pandemic.

“He sued to keep your kids in masks. He sued to keep your business shut down,” Mastriano reminded people. “He’s too radical. He’s unfit for office. He’s failed us.”

During the stop on Monday, Mastriano did more than just attack Shapiro. He also spelled out his agenda as Governor.

“I want to unleash our energy potential,” he said, saying he wanted to “drill and dig like we’ve never done in Pennsylvania before.”

He promised that on his first day in office, he’d take Pennsylvania out of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

“17 January. Executive Order. Boom,” he said. “Energy is our way out of the darkness.”

Mastriano also said “woke” is “over” if he’s elected. And he said there’d be no masking or COVID vaccine requirements for anything in Pennsylvania.

For more from Mastriano’s visit to Tamaqua, check out the video from his campaign’s Facebook page: 

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