Dan Cox joins Pennsylvania Sen. Doug Mastriano as chief of staff

Dan Cox, the Republican nominee who lost Maryland’s gubernatorial race last year, has teamed up with conservative Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano as his new chief of staff. Mastriano also came up short as his state’s Republican nominee for governor in November after both he and Cox ran strikingly similar campaigns that supported each other. Both endorsed by former President Donald Trump, the pair of freshman lawmakers from neighboring states had mirroring campaign platforms that attacked COVID-19 pandemic response measures — such as mask and vaccine mandates — targeted transgender issues in schools and advocated for anti-abortion laws.