With the Democrats retaining the Pennsylvania governor’s chair and picking up the U.S. Senate seat, Republicans are assessing strategies and leadership questions as they turn the page to the 2023 municipal and 2024 Presidential elections.

Are Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano and Senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz still players in statewide politics, or have their performances on Nov. 8 relegated them to a footnote in history?

In Mastriano’s case, he is still a state senator from Franklin County who undoubtedly will prevail in a re-election bid in 2024 if he chooses to run. This is likely since there is no national role for him to play in a Democratic administration, and Republicans are likely to keep him at arm’s length in considering any leadership role in the Republican-controlled Senate come January.

His dismal showing against Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, losing by more than 750,000 votes and more than 14%, makes him an unlikely candidate any time soon for a major statewide office. That said, he still has a loyal base, and despite his extreme views which most assuredly cost him the election and his poor showing, he still picked up 2.23 million votes (42% of those cast) in the gubernatorial race.

Both Democrats and Republicans were critical of Mastriano because it took him five days to concede the election. Although he is an admitted election-denier and has questioned the outcome of Pennsylvania elections even before they were held, none but die-hard loyalists could imagine Mastriano trying to claim victory after such a stunning loss to Shapiro.

“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. He did not contact Shapiro personally.

As for Dr. Oz, his options are more promising, although one of them is unlikely to be as a player in Pennsylvania politics. U.S. Sen.-elect John Fetterman successfully branded Oz as an outsider since he lived in New Jersey for more than 30 years before buying property in Pennsylvania and establishing residency here to run for the Senate.

With the support of former President Donald Trump, Oz eked out a victory over David McCormick in a bitter Republican primary in May. As the General Election neared, Trump went all in to support Oz, but, in the end, some Republican strategists believe that this support could have been the kiss of death.

Some Republicans believe Trump should have stayed out of a primary endorsement, and his last-minute Pennsylvania rally which was to support Oz turned out to be largely another regurgitation of Trump’s claims about the “stolen” 2020 election and a list of grievances against his political enemies, including rising star, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whom Trump called “Ron De Sanctimonious.” This did not go down well. After the election, U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., who did not seek re-election, blasted Trump and specifically blamed him for the Republicans poor showing in Pennsylvania.

Being on the ballot with Mastriano did not help Oz’s cause either, and Republican strategists said although voters split their tickets, it wasn’t enough to offset the adverse effects of the Mastriano candidacy.

Key to Oz’s loss was his tough stance on abortion. If the U.S. Supreme Court had not come out with its decision to undo Roe v. Wade earlier this year, Republican strategists say that Oz, not Fetterman, would have been the winner today. It wasn’t known until the Election Day numbers were in about how important the abortion issue was in Pennsylvania.

In their only debate, when Oz said that a woman’s abortion decision should include not only the woman and her doctor but also “local political leaders,” Fetterman’s campaign pounced on that gaffe and instantly flooded the airwaves with it. It cost Oz dearly.

As for Oz’s next act, he hasn’t given us any hints yet. Although he spent more than $27 million of his own money in seeking the Senate seat, Oz is still fabulously wealthy. In his campaign spending disclosures, he pegged his net worth at between $100 million and $422 million.

Assuming he does not stay in politics, Oz could try to re-establish his persona as a TV doctor, although many analysts believe that this course would be fraught with issues since he is now viewed as a politician rather than a physician.

Since he presents himself well, he could become an analyst with Fox News the way former U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, D-Pa., did when he resigned in 2018 from the U.S. House of Representatives to join CNN.

By Bruce Frassinelli | tneditor@tnonline.com