AND Magazine

Share this post

Things Are Changing in Pennsylvania – The Patriots Come Together

andmagazine.substack.com

Things Are Changing in Pennsylvania – The Patriots Come Together

Sam Faddis
Jun 16, 2022
36
2
Share this post

Things Are Changing in Pennsylvania – The Patriots Come Together

andmagazine.substack.com

The GOP establishment in Pennsylvania traditionally has counted on the fact that it can largely ignore the Patriot movement in the state. Pay them some lip service. Make soothing noises. The ‘hayseeds’ may show up and hold a rally every once in a while, but then they will go home, put their pitchforks away and everybody in Harrisburg can continue with business as usual.

Maybe not anymore.

Senator Doug Mastriano is a relatively new legislator who has been at war with the Republican establishment ever since he came to Harrisburg. Not so long ago the President Pro Tempore of the Senate, Jake Corman, took away Mastriano’s committee chairmanship, stripped him of his staff, and barred him from participating in the GOP senatorial caucus. In effect, Corman knee-capped Mastriano in broad daylight and left him for dead.

Mastriano just won the nomination to be the Republican nominee for Governor. He did so with relatively little funding but riding a wave of grassroots support.

Corman did not run for reelection to the Senate and his own campaign for Governor went nowhere. In a matter of months, Corman will be out of office.

Meanwhile, two of the most powerful Republicans in the legislature were just defeated in their primary elections. Pat Browne, the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee will be out of a job as will Stan Saylor his counterpart in the House. Both of them, at the heart of the GOP establishment, were defeated by opponents from the Patriot movement in the state.

Browne had been in office for 28 years. Saylor had been in office for 29 years. In Pennsylvania, incumbents who have been in office that long and wield the power that goes with control over the appropriations committees don’t lose. They stay until they decide to step down.

Or they used to.

Twitter avatar for @lfeinberg
Lawrence A Feinberg @lfeinberg
Sen. Pat Browne, one of the top Republicans in Harrisburg, concedes; Jarrett Coleman upset winner in 16th District primary
mcall.comSen. Pat Browne, one of the top Republicans in Harrisburg, concedes; Jarrett Coleman upset winner in 16th District primaryVeteran state Sen. Pat Browne on Monday conceded he lost his bid for re-election to political newcomer Jarrett Coleman, signaling an end to Browne’s 28-year run in Harrisburg working on behalf of Lehigh County.
9:57 AM ∙ Jun 7, 2022

Just as ominous for the establishment is the rise of a new coalition of Patriot groups now working together to push for a return to in-person voting in the state. On April 30th the leaders of 40 groups got together in Allentown and hammered out the Election Integrity Declaration demanding an immediate return to in-person voting in the Commonwealth. On May 11th those leaders appeared in the Rotunda in the State Capital and signed that document for the cameras.

On June 14th, that growing coalition conducted its first statewide action sending activists to state legislative district offices throughout the state in a deliberate move intended to show that the disparate groups in the coalition, could work together toward a common goal. Future actions are being planned and efforts are already underway to grow and unite the Patriot movement in the state. Over 75 PA-based patriot and conservative groups are now part of this coalition.

AND Magazine
75+ Patriot Groups Unite In PA To Demand Return To In-Person Voting Now
Sam Faddis, talking with Steve Bannon while in Honesdale, PA just a short walk from Representative Fritz’s office. A list of which legislators have signed “The Declaration” can be found here (and that list is being updated as quickly as possible). Just a little over two months ago, the leader of a small constitutional, patriotic group …
Read more
9 months ago · 26 likes · 1 comment · AND Magazine Staff
Twitter avatar for @RealSamFaddis
SAM FADDIS @RealSamFaddis
Yesterday. All across the state. Patriot groups demanding a return to in-person voting in Pennsylvania. If you are in the legislature know this. WE ARE JUST GETTING STARTED.
Image
2:08 PM ∙ Jun 15, 2022
28Likes12Retweets

The establishment has taken note. Still absorbing the implications of the losses by Browne and Saylor, the powers that be in Harrisburg seem to be slowly awakening to a new reality. Already Kim Ward, majority leader in the Senate, Bob Mensch, the GOP Senate caucus chair, and Dave Argall, chairman of the powerful State Government Committee in the Senate have signed the Election Integrity Declaration. They are being joined daily by other members of the legislature. Senator Doug Mastriano has signed as well.

AND Magazine
PA Senator And GOP Gubernatorial Nominee Doug Mastriano Signs The Election Integrity Declaration
Doug Mastriano a Pennsylvania State Senator and the Republican nominee for Governor has signed the Election Integrity Declaration demanding a return to in-person voting in Pennsylvania. The “Declaration” has been signed by the leaders of over seventy Patriot and constitutional groups in the state. “The Declaration” specifically states that the state mu…
Read more
10 months ago · 27 likes · 1 comment · AND Magazine Staff

After years of defending mail-in voting, the official position of GOP leadership is now that that state must return to in-person voting.

None of this means the Swamp is dead in Harrisburg. Signing a declaration is one thing. Introducing and passing a bill to return the state to in-person voting is another thing entirely. Still, collectively all of the recent developments demonstrate that the political landscape in Pennsylvania is changing dramatically.

Up until now the calculus of the establishment has been that the Patriot movement posed no real political threat. Periodic, patronizing comments aside, the establishment largely ignored the significance of the growing number of Patriot groups in the state. They were judged incapable of acting in concert. In the hardball, bare-knuckles world of Pennsylvania politics, the men and women holding rallies and truck convoys were not taken seriously.

Today the men and women holding state office in Pennsylvania are waking up to a very different reality. The Patriot movement is coming together, organizing, and communicating statewide. It is growing in strength and sophistication.

Harrisburg you have a problem. They learned to work together.

AND Magazine
The Pennsylvania Electoral System Needs Fixed, And It Needs Fixed Now
The entire electoral system of the state of Pennsylvania is in chaos. In reality, the Commonwealth now conducts what amounts to 67 separate elections, one for each county, as election officials attempt to navigate through the insanity produced by bad legislation, partisan Supreme Court decisions and the actions of a Secretary of State dedicated to ensu…
Read more
10 months ago · 4 likes · 1 comment · Sam Faddis
Twitter avatar for @RealSamFaddis
SAM FADDIS @RealSamFaddis
All across Pennsylvania. Take us back to in-person voting. NOW.
8:19 PM ∙ Jun 14, 2022
30Likes12Retweets

Emboldened by these early successes, the Patriot movement is gathering momentum and increasing in confidence. Its leaders understand that the recent successes do not mean the war is won. They fully intend to intensify the scope and frequency of statewide efforts until either the legislators in Harrisburg give them what they want or they are replaced by people who will.

Times are changing in Pennsylvania. The Patriots have come together.

2
Share this post

Things Are Changing in Pennsylvania – The Patriots Come Together

andmagazine.substack.com
2 Comments
Chet Nagle
Writes AND Magazine
Jun 16, 2022

Patriots in other states will notice the events in Pennsylvania and emulate them. The RINOs will notice too, as those that are not already on a list for defeat will prove that a cat can change its spots. More, please!

Expand full comment
Reply
the long warred
Jun 18, 2022

I like this, but I am very skeptical we vote our way out of this, and that must be faced.

Expand full comment
Reply
TopNewCommunity

No posts

Ready for more?

© 2023 AND Magazine
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start WritingGet the app
Substack is the home for great writing