Josh Shapiro is getting presidential buzz, but a battleground re-election campaign beckons first

Doug Mastriano is teasing another bid for governor in Pennsylvania.

Doug Mastriano is teasing another bid for governor in Pennsylvania. After his double-digit defeat last time, Democrats there are plotting to run against him regardless of whether he gets into the race.

The will-he-won’t-he intrigue around Mastriano, who lost to Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in the 2022 contest by 15 points, has intensified recently. Last week, he published a refreshed version of his Doug4Gov.com campaign website and hit back on a Politico report detailing concerns President Donald Trump’s political team felt about him entering the contest.

And in an interview with conservative commentator John Fredericks, he implored state party leaders not to put a thumb on the scale for state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who is widely expected to launch her own gubernatorial campaign. Mastriano has also promoted polling that shows he would enter a race up big on Garrity.

“Neither Trump, nor anyone in the White House has expressed any concerns to me,” Mastriano told NBC News in a direct message on X. “Rather, Trump is very loyal, and he remembers that I was one of the only ones in Pennsylvania to stand with him since the 2020 election.”

Then-Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., on Sept. 3, 2022.Spencer Platt / Getty ImagesMastriano’s moves come against the backdrop of a race with far more layers than a standard re-election for an incumbent governor. Pennsylvania and its numerous battleground districts could determine control of the U.S. House next year. Democrats are pushing to flip the state Senate and gain full control of the state legislature for the first time in decades.