Pennsylvania is a key swing state and the GOP’s gubernatorial candidate, state Senator Douglas Mastriano, is falling behind the Democratic nominee in the polls. So why aren’t more national Republicans rushing in to help him out? 

One big reason is because Mr. Mastriano would be easy fodder for Democratic campaign ads due to his involvement in the January 6 riot at the Capitol and his uncompromising stance on abortion, among other considerations.

Another factor is that Mr. Mastriano appears to be slipping in opinion surveys. Several opinion polls from June showed either 3 or 4 points between Mr. Mastriano and his Democratic opponent, Attorney General Josh Shapiro. A more recent poll, however, conducted between July 19 and 21, shows an 11 point gap between the candidates.

Mr. Mastriano won the Republican nomination for governor with 43 percent of the vote, defeating his nearest competitor by 23 points. After a costly primary, however, his campaign war chest is almost bare at about $1 million; his opponent, Mr. Shapiro, has $16 million, according to state campaign finance disclosures.

Under normal circumstances, this is when the national party would step up and help out. Mr. Mastriano, however, appears to be getting the cold shoulder, though the Associated Press reports that the tide may be turning.

A political scientist at the University of Pittsburgh, Kristin Kanthak, said the GOP’s lack of support is “unusual in a battleground” state.

“It is clear they would’ve liked someone else to win the primary, but to be unwilling even to hold your nose and support the candidate is unusual in a battleground,” she told the Sun.

“The race isn’t even really that tight — Mastriano is outperforming Oz, the Senate candidate, in polls, and there is not a similar abandonment of Oz,” Ms. Kanthak added. Dr. Mehmet Oz, a hand-picked favorite, is the GOP’s candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania in November. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that Mr. Mastriano flew to Aspen, Colorado, last week to ask the Republican Governor’s Association for help. It apparently did not go well. 

“We must all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately,” Mr. Mastriano warned a crowd at the meeting.

A day later, a co-chairman of the RGA,  Governor Ducey of Arizona, while discussing the organization’s support for some gubernatorial candidates endorsed by President Trump, told CNN that the organization does not support “lost causes.”

Regarding Mr. Mastriano specifically, Mr. Ducey suggested that supporting him is not worth the investment: “November 8 is a long way off,” he said, noting that the organization will “be looking at the resources that we have” as the election approaches.

When asked whether Mr. Mastriano was a lost cause, Mr. Ducey responded: “I didn’t say lost cause — in any category yet.” Some have argued that this means the RGA — in its mission to “elect Republican governors” — may yet come to support Mr. Mastriano.

Mr. Ducey has also been lukewarm about another Trump-endorsed gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake, in his own state. Mr. Ducey suggested Ms. Lake is not a “real” conservative; he endorsed her GOP opponent, Karrin Taylor Robson.

It’s clear that though the RGA has yet to step in on Mr. Mastriano’s behalf, there are those in Pennsylvania who have come around to supporting him in the general election.

Businessman Jefferey Yass, for one, has reportedly begun to support the gubernatorial bid even after spending $13 million backing one of Mr. Mastriano’s primary opponents. The Pennsylvania state GOP is also doing its part in securing national support.

“When you play team sports, you learn what being part of a team means,”  the state GOP’s national committeeman, Andrew Reilly, told the Associated Press. “Our team voted for him in the primary and, no matter how you slice it, his philosophies are much better to run the state than a career politician like Josh Shapiro.”

One explanation for the lack of support for Mr. Mastriano’s candidacy could be his poll numbers. The Republican State Leadership Committee found that Mr. Mastriano is underperforming even the generic ballot in the state, meaning that fewer people prefer him to any nameless Republican candidate.

The generic ballot polling showed a Republican leading a Democrat by 48 percent to 42 percent.

Ms. Kanthak believes Mr. Mastriano’s problems run deeper than polling. She argues that his role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6 as well as his antagonizing of the Republican establishment throughout the primary has played a role in the party’s abandonment of Mr. Mastriano.

“At least part of it has to do with the fact that the GOP doesn’t think Mastriano is a good look for them,” she said, adding that “he’s a caricature of the Republican Party that the Democrats are trying to sell.”

Mr. Mastriano pushed past police lines during the January 6 riot at the Capitol, later lied and said he didn’t, and then confessed after video surfaced of him in the act. He also supports an abortion ban in all cases, including rape, incest, and when the mother’s life is in danger. Ms. Kanthak argued his far-right credentials could be a target of Democratic attack ads.

“A candidate who pushed through a police barricade on January 6 and who supports a no-exception abortion ban and other far-right views dilutes the Republican ‘brand,’” she said, adding: “There are a lot of Republicans who think the party is better off losing the governorship this time than it is with having Mastriano as governor.”

A professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Brian Arbour, said that, beyond being a bad look for the GOP, Mr. Mastriano’s antagonism of the party establishment has contributed to its members’ ill will toward his campaign.

According to NPR, Mr. Mastriano said  at a campaign rally closed to reporters that “the swamp is just slapping us around.” Of the Republican establishment, he reportedly said: “These people are just so stupid. So dumb.” 

“In the Republican Party the traditional party establishment is much more standoffish to the Trump wing,” Mr. Arbour told the Sun. “It’s made it harder for those types of candidates to raise money.”

In the primary, many in the Republican Party — in spite of Mr. Trump’s endorsement — unsuccessfully sought to form a coalition against Mr. Mastriano and in support of Congressman Lou Barletta.

“What’s more curious about Mastriano is his inability to tap into the grassroots,” Mr. Arbour added. “That’s been a bigger source of funding for anti-establishment candidates.”