# Doug Mastriano **Doug Mastriano** is a Pennsylvania state senator, a retired Army colonel and the movement figure who carried "Stop the Steal" to a statewide nomination. He lost the 2022 governor's race, passed on a 2026 rematch, and is now **Trump's nominee for U.S. Ambassador to Slovakia**. He is **not on the 2026 ballot**. His state Senate seat was last on the ballot in 2024, when he won 69%. ## Background He served in the Army from 1986 to 2017, mostly in military intelligence, including the Gulf and Iraq wars, and holds a Ph.D. in history. He won a 2019 special election for the Franklin County-based 33rd District. ## 2020 and January 6 He was one of the central organizers of the effort to overturn Pennsylvania's 2020 result. He held a Gettysburg "hearing" with [[Rudy Giuliani]], pushed the legislature to appoint its own electors, and chartered buses to the Jan. 6 rally. Video showed him passing through breached police lines at the Capitol, though he denies entering the building. He was subpoenaed by the [[Jan. 6 Committee]] and left his August 2022 deposition after about 15 minutes. See [[Stop the Steal Timeline]]. ## 2022: the nominee He won the 2022 Republican primary for governor, an office that appoints the Secretary of the Commonwealth, who runs Pennsylvania's elections. His campaign paid **$5,000** to [[Gab]], [[Andrew Torba]]'s platform, for "consulting." He had a record of [[Christian Nationalism]] rhetoric, including dismissing the separation of church and state as a myth. He lost to [[Josh Shapiro]] by about **15 points**, 56.5% to 41.7%, one of the clearest rejections of an election-denier nominee that year. ## 2026: out of the race, into the State Department - **Jan. 7, 2026.** In a livestream he said God had "not called us to run for governor this year." He did not mention or endorse the eventual nominee, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity. - **May 2026.** Trump nominated him ambassador to Slovakia. Robert Fico's government there is one of the EU's most Russia-friendly (see [[Robert Fico]]). - **July 23, 2026.** The Senate Foreign Relations Committee advanced the nomination **12–10** on a party-line vote. At the hearing, Sen. Tim Kaine pressed him on whether Biden won in 2020. His answer was "Joe Biden was certified," and he went no further. Democrats also raised his past comparisons of U.S. policy to the Holocaust and his associations with antisemitic figures. - **As of Sept. 30, 2026, no confirmation vote was found.** He remains a state senator while the nomination is pending. ## Why he matters Mastriano shows what happens to election denialism once it has been rejected at the ballot box. He was beaten by 15 points as a governor candidate, and has since been rewarded with an ambassadorship to a NATO ally whose government has tilted toward Moscow. Even his confirmation answer, "certified" rather than "won," is the same formula the movement uses. ## See also - [[Stop the Steal Timeline]] · [[Battleground Election Officials Hub]] · [[QAnon Timeline]] - [[Josh Shapiro]] · [[Gab]] · [[Andrew Torba]] · [[Christian Nationalism]] · [[Uihlein Family Foundation]] - [[Robert Fico]] · [[History of Religion Hub]]