Pennsylvania Democratic gubernatorial nominee Josh Shapiro is launching a pair of attack ads targeting his opponent’s ties to the far-right social media network Gab.
The campaign is putting more than $1 million behind the television commercials, which were first shared with POLITICO, and airing them across the state.
Republican Doug Mastriano has come under fire for paying $5,000 for “consulting” services to Gab, the site where Robert Bowers made antisemitic posts before the deadly mass shooting at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue. Mastriano also participated in an interview with Gab CEO Andrew Torba, where he told him, “Thank God for what you’ve done.”
In one of Shapiro’s ads, a narrator describes Gab as a “white supremacist website” where “minutes before Jews were killed at this synagogue, the murderer posted his hate-filled plan.” The spot highlights Mastriano’s payment to Gab.