26 MAY 2022

Round Up: Top Pennsylvania GOP Primary Winners Represent Most Extreme, Anti-Immigrant Positions that Echo Fringe, White Nationalists Ideologies

WASHINGTON, DC - While Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman won a resounding victory last Tuesday, notably leaning into values-based immigration messaging throughout a campaign that won all 67 PA counties, winners for the Republican Party in Pennsylvania made no secret of the dark path they’ve chosen to take on the campaign trail: They will continue echoing extreme, racially-charged positions on immigration to misinform and scare battleground voters against Democrats. 

The Republican playbook— weaponizing immigration as a means to defeat Democrats— has been at the core of many of the GOP candidates’ campaign strategy this year. Already, more than 700 anti-immigrant ads have been deployed by Republicans running for office across the country— 61 ads were by Pennsylvania GOP candidates. As noted by the Immigration Hub and America’s Voice, of those campaign ads, hundreds mirror and normalize tenets of the “Great Replacement Theory” (a racist ideology asserting that immigrants of color are coming to America in a scheme to “replace” white people and are aided and abetted by Jews), which was further elevated into the limelight after the Buffalo mass shooting:

Gubernatorial Primary: Mastriano Subscribes to the White Christian Supremacy Movement, Including the Anti-Immigrant Ethos

  • Doug Mastriano is a QAnon believer who made his name opposing COVID regulations, denying the 2020 election and most infamously storming the Capitol on January 6. Mastriano has deep ties to the White Christian supremacy movement. Notably, he levied anti-immigrant rhetoric to jump start his career and stayed relevant by speaking to low propensity voters with anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim messages. Earlier in the year, he wrote an op-ed falsely accusing the Biden administration of sending so-called “ghost flights” full of migrants to Luzerne County. The hyperboles took a page out of Governors Greg Abbott’s and Ron DeSantis’ electoral playbook, attempting to negatively paint President Biden’s efforts to resettle refugees and reunify unaccompanied children with their loved ones or vetted sponsors. (See the fact-check on “ghost flights.”)

Last Men Standing: GOP Senate Candidates with an Appetite for Destructive Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric 

  • Trump-endorsed candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz alleged that the border continues to “spiral out of control,” railed against President Biden for “turning his back” on Border Patrol, and called the decision to end Title 42— a public health policy weaponized by Stephen Miller and Trump to shut the border down— “a huge mistake” and insisted that the Keystone State has become a “border state.” Just like Mastriano and other Republicans, he fear-mongered over supposed “ghost flights,” deploying an ad against President Biden’s efforts to ensure that refugees and children are safely settled and reunited with their families or vetted sponsors.

  • David McCormick, advised by former White House senior advisor and family separation brainchild Stephen Miller, launched xenophobic attacks against Oz and focused on immigration. In a May interview, he insisted that the border is a top issue for Pennsylvanians. He took a photo-op at the border, propagating the trope of drugs “pouring” into PA due to Biden’s border policies, despite record drug apprehensions at the southern border since Biden took office.

PA Republican Candidates for Congress Play the Same Tune with New Heighten Anti-Immigrant Lyrics that Reverberate the “Replacement Theory”

  • Lisa Scheller (PA-7) embraced Trump’s extreme xenophobia before and lost. Scheller has blamed “unprecedented levels” of border crossings on Biden’s “lawlessness” and border policies. Earlier this year, she also used the “ghost flights” argument to accuse Biden and Democrats of allowing migrants into Pennsylvania’s own “backyard”. Much like her GOP counterparts in the state, her language on immigration seeks to mainstream the Great Replacement Theory’s assertion that immigrants are invading the U.S. and are a threat to white Americans.

  • Jim Bognet (PA-8) is at it again despite losing in the last cycle, in a district Trump carried by more than 4 points, by running on a “America First” slogan. Bognet proudly stated that “a vote for [him] is a vote for the Trump agenda.” He bashed President Biden for allowingAfghan refugees to enter the country following the war, claimed immigrants have more rights than American citizens, and that immigrants are “destroying” the country. He repeated a favorite Trump claim that immigrants are voting in a since deleted tweet. There’s less subtlety in his rhetoric; it’s clear, Bognet is parroting racist principles to try and scare voters into thinking that immigrants present a threat to Americans.

  • Jeremy Shaffer (PA-17) wants you to believe he is not like the rest of his peers, but his anti-immigrant stance is clear. His website, under “Secure the Border,” reads: "The crisis at our southern border is not only a threat to our national and economic security, but it also contributes to Pennsylvania’s opioid epidemic and human trafficking. We need to return to an America First immigration policy that secures our border and finishes the wall.” The language is a nod to the GOP strategy’s primary lines of attack: migrants are a threat and drugs from the border are infiltrating neighborhoods and threatening public safety.

Bottom line: Pennsylvania Republican candidates will use immigration as a primary political issue against President Biden and Democratic candidates, while peddling dangerous and divisive policies and rhetoric that raise the stakes on America’s cultural identity. Now more than ever, Democrats have an opportunity and obligation to counter Republicans with the values and policy solutions Americans largely support on immigration but aren’t hearing from the party. 

A recent Immigration Hub poll, surveying battleground voters including Pennsylvanians, shows that the majority of the American electorate not only believe immigrants make the U.S. stronger and are critical to our economic recovery, but also support components of President Biden’s border plan— including an oderly process for asylum seekers and reunifying families— and Democratic immigration solutions, such as pathway to citizenship for Dreamers and undocumented immigrants and expanding temporary protected status (TPS). However, the same poll finds that most voters are unsurprisingly only hearing the GOP’s dangerous and divisive narrative on the issue. Leaning into the public’s vision of a modern and improved immigration system is how Democrats can persuade key voting blocs AND ensure the country is not lost to cruel and xenophobic ideologies of a fringe minority.

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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.