Dear MoveOn member,
Last Tuesday night, Donald Trump took a huge step toward being able to steal the 2024 presidential election and regain the White House.
January 6 insurrectionist and radical Trump loyalist Doug Mastriano won the Republican nomination for governor of Pennsylvania.1
We cannot overstate how dangerous this situation is. Mastriano has openly signaled that if he's elected governor, he will use his office to award Pennsylvania's electoral votes to the Republicans, no matter who actually wins the state.2
In fact, as a state senator in 2020, Mastriano attempted to engineer a coup for Trump by awarding Pennsylvania's electoral votes to him, despite the fact that Trump lost the state by 81,660 votes.3 As governor, Mastriano would have the power to appoint Pennsylvania's secretary of state, the person who oversees elections and the counting of votes. And as governor, he will personally be responsible for certifying the results.
Bottom line: If Mastriano wins the general election, there is almost no chance that he will certify any Democratic presidential candidate as the winner, no matter the results.
MoveOn has launched a $30 million campaign to defeat Doug Mastriano and the other Trump-backed candidates running to control our elections in 2024. Can you chip in $5 a month to help support this effort and stop Trump's attempt to hijack our democracy?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Pennsylvania is just one of several battleground states where Trump and his allies are working to install loyalists in the key positions that oversee our elections, like governor, secretary of state, and attorney general.
According to an analysis by The Washington Post, at least 163 Republicans who have embraced Trump's Big Lie of a stolen election are running for positions that would give them authority over the administration of elections, from governor to secretary of state.4
That includes candidates in Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, New Mexico, and more.5
Their plan is simple: secure the power to throw out votes, certify the election results they want, and finish what Trump started in 2020 by installing him to another term—no matter the results of the vote.
In Pennsylvania, the secretary of state isn't elected but rather appointed by the governor. And Doug Mastriano, if elected in November, would give Trump and his coup planners control over the fourth-largest state in the country and a critical election battleground.
Mastriano believes that, rather than voters deciding elections, "the state legislature has the sole authority to direct the manner of selecting delegates to the Electoral College," and that the mere allegation of election fraud is sufficient to throw out the votes and appoint new electors. If there were any doubt about his intention, a video went viral of Mastriano and one of his allies bragging on Tuesday night about how they will steal the state's 20 electoral votes in 2024.6
To stop Mastriano and his cronies, we are developing new and innovative voter engagement and turnout strategies building on the hugely successful work we did in 2020. Our focus will be to ensure that young voters, voters of color, and those who voted for the first time in 2018 and 2020 turn out again. But if we don't have the funds, we won't be able to deploy those new strategies widely.
This is how Donald Trump's failed coup in 2020 could succeed in 2024. And it's how American democracy could end.
Will you start a $5 monthly donation to help save our imperiled democracy?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
Thanks for all you do.
–Chris, David, Jaira, Jayne, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Republican Panic Grows After Mastriano Wins," The New York Times, May 18, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/162505?t=6&akid=323947%2E40999114%2EzbMV7w
2. "An openly pro-coup Trumpist could become Pennsylvania’s next governor," The Washington Post, May 12, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/162506?t=8&akid=323947%2E40999114%2EzbMV7w
3. Tweet by Doug Mastriano, November 28, 2020
https://act.moveon.org/go/162507?t=10&akid=323947%2E40999114%2EzbMV7w
4. "How Republicans became the party of Trump’s election lie after Jan. 6," The Washington Post, January 5, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/162508?t=12&akid=323947%2E40999114%2EzbMV7w
5. "Replacing the Refs," States United Democracy Center, May 4, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/162509?t=14&akid=323947%2E40999114%2EzbMV7w
6. Tweet by Ron Filipkowski, May 17, 2022
https://act.moveon.org/go/162510?t=16&akid=323947%2E40999114%2EzbMV7w
Not authorized by any candidate, candidate's agent, or committee. Paid for with regulated funds by MoveOn.org Political Action, PO Box 96142, Washington, DC 20090.
Want to support MoveOn's work? Donald Trump's preparations for being able to steal the presidency in 2024 are well underway and include working to replace top election officials in battleground states with his own loyalists. Which is why MoveOn is doing something we've never done in our 23-year history: We're launching a powerful, multimillion-dollar effort to defeat Trump-backed secretaries of state across the country and elect individuals who will count every vote and ensure fair elections.
Will you chip in monthly to power our campaign to defeat Trump and protect our elections in 2022?
No, I'm sorry, I can't make a monthly donation.
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