Pennsylvania Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano has called for election reform but conceded the Pennsylvania gubernatorial race to his opponent, Democrat Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro, on Sunday.
"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," Mastriano said in a statement posted to Twitter Sunday afternoon. "Josh Shapiro will be our next Governor, and I ask everyone to give him the opportunity to lead and pray that he leads well."
On Sunday morning, when asked if he was still waiting for a phone call from Mastriano, Shapiro shrugged off his opponent's concession, telling CNN's Dana Bash, "I mean, who cares if he calls, right? He doesn't get to pick the winner, the people pick the winner.
"And in a resounding way, they made clear that they wanted me to lead this commonwealth forward. We had an historic win, more votes than any gubernatorial candidate in history. So I could care less if the guy calls me.
"What matters is the people chose me, and I look forward to getting to work for them in January."
In his statement Mastriano goes on to call for reforms in Pennsylvania elections.
"Pennsylvanians," Mastriano writes, "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."
He adds that, in the future, election results need to be "more quickly decided."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.