Joseph Sabino Mistick: Opposition picks matter in Pa. races

Primary elections are rarely real barnburners. Candidates in each party are solely focused on becoming their party’s nominee for the fall election. After the primary, they would normally all unite behind the victor and then turn their fire on the other party’s nominee.

But this year is different. This year, primary candidates in each party are taking a look at the other party’s possible nominees now. And they are actively trying to guide who their opponents will be in November.

Democrats want Republicans to pick Mehmet Oz as their candidate for the U.S. Senate, and Republicans are hoping that the Democrats nominate John Fetterman. If that happens, both parties would start their fall campaigns with much of the groundwork already set for them.

If Oz is the Republican nominee, Democrats will build upon the negative ads that Republican David McCormick and his supporters have run against Oz. And they have been brutal.

One McCormick ad makes short work of Oz. In 30 seconds, Oz is called pro-Hillary, pro-Fauci, pro-China, pro-transgender children, anti-gun, pro-Obama and anti-Trump. It ends with the declaration that “Oz is a complete and total fraud.”

Carla Sands, another Republican Senate candidate, also clobbered Oz, who has dual American-Turkey citizenship. In a recent debate, Sands disputed Oz’s claim that he is “America first,” saying instead that he is “Turkey first.”

“He served in the Turkish military, not the U.S. military, and he chose to do that. He chose to put Turkey first,” Sands said.

Meanwhile, Republicans believe that Fetterman has left himself wide open to attacks by allowing his record as the mayor of the tiny borough of Braddock to be grossly overstated. Fetterman has been portrayed as the guy who saved his town, and one Republican insider believes that anti-Fetterman ads will write themselves.

“All we have to do is drive down Braddock Avenue with a video camera. The empty storefronts and vacant lots will speak for themselves,” he said. “And the numbers about jobs and poverty won’t lie, either.”

When Fetterman became mayor, the population of Braddock was around 2,500 and dropped through his tenure, hitting 1,721 in the last census. And despite his promise to bring jobs to Pennsylvania, Braddock bled jobs while he was mayor, losing nearly 700 jobs from the closing of Braddock Hospital alone.

This keen interest in the other party’s nominees is even more obvious in the primary campaigns for governor. Republican Doug Mastriano appears to be in the lead in a field of nine candidates, and it will not take much to win.

A recent campaign ad touting Mastriano as “one of Donald Trump’s strongest supporters” puts him squarely on the side of Trumpers on the big issues. It says that Mastriano is against abortion and voting by mail and that he led the fight to audit the 2020 election. An ad like that might clinch the Republican nomination.

But guess what. The ad is paid for by the campaign of Josh Shapiro, the unopposed candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor. Shapiro wants to run against Mastriano, and he is leaving little to chance.

And if it ends up being Mastriano versus Shapiro for governor and Oz versus Fetterman for senator, all the strong partisans in each party will be happy. And after November, governing will be the next big step.