Mastriano, who represents Chambersburg, Gettysburg and McSherrystown in the legislature, rose to prominence by spearheading opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns engineered by then-Gov. Tom Wolf; where violations were often litigated by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Wolf\u2019s cabinet, like then-Health Secretary<\/a> Rachel Levine and Agriculture Secretary<\/a> Russell Redding.<\/p>\n The retired Army colonel and veteran of Desert Storm\u2019s Battle of 73 Easting \u2013 the last contemporary tank battle \u2013 confirmed to Fox News Digital late Wednesday that he will not seek the Republican nomination for governor despite vocal public support on the conservative right. This opens up the field<\/a> to state Treasurer Stacy Garrity.<\/p>\n FETTERMAN\u2019S NEW BOOK DETAILS EXPLOSIVE FEUD WITH GOV JOSH SHAPIRO OVER PAROLE BOARD DISPUTE<\/a><\/p>\n “God has not called us to run for governor in this season,” he said. “Maybe 2028. Maybe 2030. But not now. That does not mean we are stepping away.”<\/p>\n In an accompanying “Open Letter to the People of Pennsylvania” shared with Fox News Digital, Mastriano took jabs at both Shapiro and intraparty critics and promised that his “Walk As Free People” movement started during the lockdowns is not going anywhere.<\/p>\n “[Doug] and his wife Rebbie remain committed to leading and strengthening the grassroots conservative movement across the Commonwealth,” Mastriano added in a statement to Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n SHAPIRO KICKS OFF 2026 RE-ELECTION AS 2028 WHITE HOUSE BUZZ SWIRLS<\/a><\/p>\n “This movement was never about one person or one campaign,” Mastriano said in a statement issued from Gettysburg. “It has always been about faith, freedom, and the people of Pennsylvania.”<\/p>\n Since the lockdowns, Mastriano and other lawmakers have held rallies and protests around the state, from tiny Jerome, outside Johnstown, to the steps of the Capitol in Harrisburg.<\/p>\n Supporters, who often donned “Walk as Free People” or “Mastriano\u2019s Army” shirts, also held occasional picnics in a lockdown-averse township outside Lancaster.<\/p>\n WHITE HOUSE RACE UNDERWAY: WITH 2026 LOOMING, BOTH PARTIES ARE ALREADY PLAYING FOR 2028<\/a><\/p>\n State Sen. Doug Mastriano, left, and Gov. Josh Shapiro (Mark Makela\/Getty Images; Lev Raden\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Mastriano said that although he lost to Shapiro in 2022, the race saw the highest Republican turnout since 1962, and collected 29,000 ballot signatures.<\/p>\n Supporters claimed during the 2022 race<\/a> that Mastriano would also have become the first GOP gubernatorial candidate to win without party endorsement intervention in the primary since Gov. Dick Thornburgh \u2013 who later became President Ronald Reagan\u2019s attorney general.<\/p>\n “He further challenged Republican Party leadership, rejecting what he described as \u2018backroom deals\u2019 and \u2018premature endorsements,\u2019 and said future candidates must earn support directly from voters,” the senator\u2019s open letter went on, referencing his reservations about how the race was viewed by the establishment.<\/p>\n JOSH SHAPIRO CALLS KAMALA HARRIS BOOK CLAIMS ABOUT HIM ‘UTTER BULL—-‘ IN FIERY INTERVIEW RESPONSE<\/a><\/p>\n Mastriano also took aim at Shapiro, calling his governorship a “machine\u2026 corrupt and riddled with scandal<\/a>, propped up by Hollywood elites and out-of-state billionaires who neither understand Pennsylvania nor respect its values.”<\/p>\n “Josh Shapiro is not strong, not serious, and not fit to lead,” Mastriano said, going on to suggest that former Vice President Kamala Harris<\/a> “distanced herself” from him after vetting her potential running mates and instead choosing Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mastriano also condemned members of the media who “spent years trying to destroy [the Walk as Free People] movement while admitting they gave Shapiro a free pass.”<\/p>\n JOSH SHAPIRO DEFENDS CLAIM THAT KAMALA HARRIS TRYING TO \u2018COVER HER A\u2014\u2019 WITH CRITICAL BOOK EXCERPT<\/a><\/p>\n He added that while he will not seek higher office at this time, his work in the Senate will continue and proof of his movement\u2019s veracity lies in its successful work helping elect Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., and re-electing President Donald Trump<\/a>.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP<\/a><\/p>\n When reached for comment, a representative for the Shapiro campaign directed Fox News Digital to a statement from the Pennsylvania Democrats that said the commonwealth is now “stuck with” Garrity.<\/p>\n “Today, it became clear that Pennsylvania Republicans will be stuck with yet again another Republican extremist, Stacy Garrity, as their candidate for governor. Garrity is an election denier who has never stated Donald Trump lost the 2020 election and peddled the dangerous lies that led to the January 6th insurrection,” the statement read in part, appearing to obliquely reference Mastriano’s decision.<\/p>\n Charles Creitz is a reporter for\u00a0Fox News Digital.\u00a0<\/p>\n He joined Fox News in 2013 as a writer and production assistant.\u00a0<\/p>\n Charles covers media<\/a>, politics<\/a> and culture for Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n Charles is a Pennsylvania native and graduated from Temple University with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism. Story tips can be sent to charles.creitz@fox.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano is sitting out the 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":82884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29336,1108,14288,28,30,29,5019],"class_list":{"0":"post-82883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-democrats-elections","9":"tag-governors","10":"tag-midterm-elections","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","13":"tag-pennsylvania-news","14":"tag-republicans"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mastriano](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/mastriano-shapiro.png\")
<\/p>\n