Republicans better hope for a massive red tide in Pennsylvania in November that brings all boats to shore. That’s because gubernatorial nominee Doug Mastriano and Senate hopeful Mehmet Oz, especially Oz, have taken seats that should have at least leaned Republican and put them in play. First Mastriano.

Seemingly a good guy, he nevertheless is politically wrong for a purple polity like PA. I should know, as I spent twenty years running races in the joint, the last one in 2021. Why is he a bad option? Mastriano buys into some of the looniest parts of the Trump “the dog ate my election” conspiracy theories. Outside of some of the counties where there are more deer than people, and the deer are smarter, not many will be impressed with Mastriano’s stand in that Trump-fueled never-ending kerfuffle.

Voters in Imbesylvania and the rest of the nation want solutions to taxes, crime, CRT, etc. Mastriano has those and they’re good. But Dems will paint him as a far right insurrection-supporting cretin in the Philly and Pittsburgh burbs, vital areas for Republicans, and that could be all she wrote.

That would consign the commonwealth to four years of actual far left PA AG Josh Shapiro. If Pennsylvania Republicans think current Dem governor Tom Wolf is bad, and he is, Shapiro is worse. And who is worse than Shapiro? Dem Senate nominee John Fetterman, the current lieutenant governor.

The Senate race should have been a gimme for the Republicans because Fetterman is a Democrat candidate designed by the RNC.

He looks like a bald berserker circa 780AD Norway and he talks like a dimwitted high school sophomore. A self described socialist, Fetterman mostly dresses in hoodies and has a look in his eyes that says nobody is at home. Plus, the man recently had a stroke.

Dear Gawd, what else does the GOP want? Should he bugger a goat at noon at the corner of 12th and Market in Philly? Perhaps he can disclose his simultaneous membership in the Klan and Antifa? This was a layup. Almost any not too odd Republican nominee could have beaten him like a rug. Enter celebrity doc Mehmet Oz.

Ideologically not a horrible choice for the purple commonwealth, Oz is also a wealthy New Jersey carpetbagger with a Trump endorsement and an enlistment in the awkward squad. You’d think after years in television he’d fare better presentation and image wise. But a controlled studio environment is a far cry from the hustings of Potter County. Oz is going to have to find some charisma quick or the seat will go to the male version of AOC. All because too many Keystone State Republicans took the bait of a B list celebrity with a Trump nod.

A moderately articulate wombat could beat Fetterman. The GOP gets the dodgy carpetbagger brought to cable television stardom by that political genius, Oprah. Gee, thanks.