The Circular Firing Squad


Vote Russ Diamond for State Representative

July 24, 2024

Donald Trump was nearly killed in Pennsylvania. Joe Biden got shoved aside by Democrats. Kamala Harris might pick Josh Shapiro to be her running mate. It's a crazy time in politics and it's bound to get even crazier before November, but I wanted to take a few moments to reflect on what happened during my primary election this year.

On April 23rd I handily defeated my primary election opponent by comfortable 30-point margin. I'm grateful to the Republican voters of the 102nd District for once again putting their faith in me. Few would classify such a victory as anything but a clear mandate.

All the post-election campaign finance reports related to my race are now on file with the Department of State. I always like to analyze those, along with vote totals, to review the efficacy and effect of the overall campaign.

The Numbers

My campaign spent $54,233.12 on the race. My opponent spent $53,260.26. In addition, Doug Mastriano spent $8,490.59 and his pal Teddy Daniels spent $9,710.62 on direct efforts to try to defeat me. That's a total reportable spend of $125,696.54 for the 102nd District primary.

The generally accepted rule of thumb for primary elections is that a generic challenger will receive one-third of the vote against a generic incumbent. In the recent 102nd District race, that one-third figure equates to 2967 of the 8900 total votes cast. Of those 8900 votes, I received 5782, my opponent received 3083, and there were 35 write-in votes for someone else.

What was the efficacy and effect of the overall campaign? After an overall expenditure of $125,696.54, my opponent earned a whopping 116 votes over the generic one-third primary election benchmark. That's an astonishing $1,083.59 per vote. That figure does not include the value of man/hours spent on the campaign delivering yard signs, knocking on doors, and other volunteer activities.

That's a very expensive circular firing squad. What a complete waste. I can think of many better ways to spend Republican dollars to defeat Democrats up and down the fall ballot and win back the majority in the PA House of Representatives. I said as much during the campaign, and the results have proven me right.

Vanity, Thy Name is Doug

The worst part is that I only had a challenger thanks to the ego and vanity of Doug Mastriano. Upset because I've consistently spoken the truth about him over the last few years, he conned my opponent into running against me. $35,000 of the money she raised and spent came directly from him, and he spent $8,490.59 under his own name.

There are no major policy differences between me and my opponent. There are no major policy differences between me and Doug Mastriano. We are all aligned on the key issues important to our fellow Republicans.

My opponent only ran because I am not nearly as enamored by Doug Mastriano as she is. She admitted as much to a room full of Republicans during the campaign. She's a victim of Mastriano's outsized ego and vanity.

And let's be frank, the only reason Mastriano possessed the resources to put up an opponent against me is because hard working conservative Republicans contributed to help him win the 2022 gubernatorial race. Why he didn't spend those resources on the effort to beat Josh Shapiro remains a mystery, but his donors certainly didn't contribute so he could launch and get humiliated in an intramural battle aimed at satisfying his ego and vanity.

And then there's Teddy Daniels, Mastriano's hand-picked running mate in 2022 who I exposed as a complete con man. That clown blew $9,710.62 on a couple mailers attempting to smear my good name. He probably would've had a bigger impact had he burned 9,710 one-dollar bills for a viral video on TikTok.

Onward and Forward

With the primary election and Mastriano's ludicrous circular firing squad behind us, we now look forward to the general election in November. I do not have a Democrat opponent, so my own re-election is nearly guaranteed.

As such, I am spending my time and effort helping other Republicans win. Here in Lebanon County, I'm working with our county committee on efforts to increase our vote-by-mail totals among infrequent voters to help bolster the vote totals for Donald Trump, Dave McCormick for Senate, and the rest of our statewide candidates.

In Harrisburg, I am working with the House Republican Campaign Committee to help win back the majority in the PA House of Representatives. I have already made considerable contributions to this effort, and will continue to do so over the summer and fall.

I am asking you to join me in this effort by making a contribution today.


Russ Diamond


Subscribe to Capitol Insights!