Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano (R) conceded to Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro (D) on Sunday in the state’s gubernatorial race, five days after news outlets called the race against him.
“Difficult to accept as the results are, there is no right course but to concede, which I do, and I look to the challenges ahead. Josh Shapiro will be our next Governor, and I ask everyone to give him the opportunity to lead and pray that he leads well,” Mastriano said in a statement.
Shapiro said Sunday morning that his opponent had not called to concede in the race, which the Democrat won by about 14 percentage points and more than 750,000 votes.
“I mean, who cares if he calls, right? He doesn’t get to pick the winner, the people pick the winner,” Shapiro told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.”
The far-right Republican, endorsed by former president Trump, had questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election, touting the former president’s claims of election fraud and raising concerns about elections more broadly.
While he accepted his loss to Shapiro on Sunday, his statement also called for reforms to Pennsylvania’s electoral system.
“Pennsylvanians deserve to have faith in our elections. In my role as a State Senator, I will do my very best to help Josh Shapiro deliver that to Pennsylvanians and, if he does, I will be the first to acknowledge and applaud his achievement,” Mastriano wrote.
He added that election results need to be “more quickly decided” in the future.
Mehmet Oz, the Republican candidate for Senate who lost a much closer race to Lt. Gov. John Fetterman (D), conceded on Wednesday.