Trump's Pennsylvania gubernatorial pick wins the Keystone State's GOP primary

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano – a key conservative figure who worked with former President Trump’s legal team to overturn the 2020 election results – won the Keystone State’s Republican governor’s primary on Tuesday night.

The conservative lawmaker ultimately defeated a crowded field of gubernatorial candidates, despite efforts from some GOP kingmakers to stop him over concerns that his positions could be detrimental to the party in the upcoming midterm elections, Yahoo News reported.

A last-minute endorsement from Trump, however, appears to have done the trick and the conservative lawmaker will now face state Democratic Attorney General Josh Shapiro in the race to replace Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Mastriano, 58, has made a name for himself in the Republican Party as a staunch hardliner who regularly defends claims of voter fraud in 2020, outlawing abortion and rolling back privacy protections for individuals infected with COVID-19, the Hill reported.

The retired Army colonel won a special election in 2019 for a legislative seat in southcentral Pennsylvania and first gained notoriety after working with former President Trump’s legal team following Biden’s 2020 electoral win.

Mastriano also helped arrange buses for Trump supporters to attend the Jan. 6 rally, which ultimately became the infamous Capitol riot. Although he was on the Capitol grounds that day, there is no evidence that he ever entered the building.