PHILADELPHIA — As Attorney General Josh Shapiro thanked a group of union workers gathered to launch a day of door knocking around Philadelphia, he gestured to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman waiting at the foot of the stage.
“I want you to just turn your eyes over here,” Shapiro said. “We’ve got the 51st [Democratic] senator in the house! Are we gonna send John Fetterman to Washington, D.C., to represent the union way of life?
“Hell, yeah!” the crowd replied.
When Fetterman spoke, he returned the Democratic love. “Josh Shapiro’s got Pennsylvania,” he said. “Send me to Washington, D.C.”
The Democratic candidates have largely kept to their own races, but their even occasional alliance is in sharp contrast to the candidates at the top of the GOP ticket, state Sen. Doug Mastriano and Mehmet Oz. While Mastriano and Oz have ignored each other, Shapiro and Fetterman have done a handful of appearances together and make a point to tout the other’s candidacy in stump speeches across the state.
Shapiro and Fetterman, who sit on the five-member Board of Pardons together, have known each other for years and have at times publicly clashed. At Saturday’s SEIU rally, with 24 days until the election, they embraced and posed for a few pictures before their speeches.
Asked by The Inquirer about whether a united Democratic ticket could help turnout, Shapiro said he hasn’t focused on that much.
“I’ve obviously been keeping my focus on Doug Mastriano and just how dangerous and extreme he is,” he said. “Obviously, it’s good to see John, and we’re both going to stick up for working Pennsylvanians, SEIU, and other union members, and there couldn’t be a clearer contrast in my race on that issue.”
With Shapiro currently leading in his race by about 10 points while the Senate contest looks much tighter, Democrats are hoping a popular Shapiro might boost Fetterman.
“He’s got a coattail effect,” Philadelphia Democratic Party chairman Bob Brady said at the SEIU rally. “Oz and Mastriano, they’re both ashamed of each other. ... But people are gonna come out and vote, and I do think Fetterman will be fine.”
Shapiro has also invested a massive amount in Black voter turnout, particularly in Philadelphia, and that mobilization could help Fetterman as well.
Between mid-July and Election Day, the campaign is spending $1.2 million on digital ads targeted to the Black community and $1.4 million on direct mail targeting Black voters. It also has been running ads on Black radio stations.
Shapiro said Black voters can’t be taken for granted.
“And that’s why I show up. That’s why we’re investing so much,” he told The Inquirer. “That’s why we have so much support in this community. They matter. They matter in campaigns, and they matter a whole lot when it comes time to governance.”
On the Republican side, Oz and Mastriano ignore each other, avoiding mention of even the other’s name in most interviews and public campaign events. They both spoke at a rally held by former President Donald Trump in September, where Mastriano got the much more fervent crowd response.
They are running two very different campaigns, though, with Mastriano campaigning almost entirely to his ultra-right-wing base and Oz aiming to strike a more centrist note with voters. Because of that, campaigning together could hurt each other more than help.
Asked in September if he’d be endorsing Mastriano, Oz said, “I am endorsing the entire Republican slate,” without mentioning Mastriano’s name.
Mastriano attacked Oz on several occasions during the primary and in recent weeks has tossed some more subtle jabs.
In an interview on the conservative Wendy Bell Radio show, Mastriano questioned the impact a U.S. senator can have on crime, the central theme of Oz’s campaign.
“We hear a lot of discussion about that at the Senate race, but you have to remember, what can a federal senator do exactly about crime in the state? Nothing. The governor has the power to affect what’s going on.”
In an interview on Conservative Voice three days earlier, Mastriano talked about his own visit to Kensington and subtly criticized Oz, who brought a swarm of media with him when he went there in September.
“You’ll note on social media, you’ll see nothing about it. I did not want to do a stunt like these Republicans – I’m sorry, like, like, politicians do.”
Meanwhile, Fetterman has tried to connect Oz to Mastriano. At a rally Saturday, he debuted a new pun: “Oz stands with Mastriano and the extremism,” Fetterman told a crowd in Delaware County.
“It’s the new power couple: Moz-triano.”
