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Who will lead Pennsylvania for the next four years is up for grabs this November.

When voters cast their ballots in the general election, they will be selecting a new governor. The race features two candidates at the top of the field with very different plans for the state — Democratic candidate Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro and Republican candidate state Sen. Doug Mastriano.

With that in mind, and in an attempt to ensure local voters are well informed, the Reading Eagle compiled information on where Shapiro and Mastriano stand on a series of important issues.

The information has been gleaned from the candidates’ official websites and from public statements each has made. The amount Shapiro and Mastriano have discussed each issue varies, as does the level of detail each has provided about their plans of action if elected.

Mastriano focuses on two areas when discussing his plan to revive Pennsylvania’s economy: promoting the fossil fuel industry and slashing regulations on businesses.

If elected, he would immediately withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a consortium of 11 states that aims to cap and reduce CO2 emissions from the power sector.

Mastriano says his administration would encourage investment in the coal and natural gas industry. He wants to expand natural gas extraction efforts in the Marcellus Shale region, including by exploring new technologies.

Regulation, taxes and fees that impact drilling and mining for fossil fuels would be lifted under Mastriano’s administration. And so would other rules impacting other sectors.

Mastriano said he wants to slash the bureaucracy and reduce burdensome regulations that he believes are hurting the state’s economy. That includes creation of a regulation strike force.

Shapiro says economic growth will be a top priority.

He says his administration would focus on spurring innovation by creating hubs that connect businesses, universities and research institutions as a way to create jobs.

Shapiro would bolster modern manufacturing by expanding the state’s Manufacturing PA Initiative, which connects companies with higher learning institutions to identify and train a skilled workforce by embedding students with local manufacturers and provides technical support to Pennsylvania manufacturers.

He says he would slash the corporate tax rate to 4% by 2025 to make it clear that Pennsylvania is open for business, and he would eliminate unnecessary regulations.

On his campaign website, Shapiro says he would also aggressively push to make Pennsylvania the home of a new regional hydrogen hub and grow the commonwealth’s carbon capture, utilization and storage industry — creating thousands of jobs.

Shapiro says on his campaign website that he would ensure every student has access to the thorough and efficient education Pennsylvania’s constitution promises. He says he would fully fund schools — invest in attracting and retaining quality teachers, repair old and dangerously unhealthy buildings and keep pace with changing technology so students are prepared for the future.

He promises to make mental health a priority and ensure that every school building has at least one mental health counselor, and limit reliance on standardized testing so schools can create more time for kids to learn and more flexibility for teachers to teach.

Shapiro says he would empower students with the skills necessary to succeed in whatever path they choose, ensuring every high school student has access to vocational, technical and computer training.

He said he believes parents deserve to be empowered to ensure their kids receive a quality education and have choices available to put their children in the best position to succeed. That requires boosting funding for education, adding opportunities and innovating to ensure children in the state’s most challenged schools receive the education and care they deserve.

And, he says, he would ensure parents have a seat at the table when decisions about education are made by appointing at least two parents to the state Board of Education.

Mastriano has unveiled a plan for public education in the Keystone State that would drastically change the way the system is funded by completely eliminating iproperty taxes.

On his campaign website, Mastriano promises to create a property tax elimination task force, and he does not suggest replacing that lost revenue with any other source. He has argued that the lost revenue can be paid for by redirecting state funds to follow students instead of systems through essentially establishing a voucher program.

In a March interview, Mastriano said Pennsylvania spends about $19,000 on each student. He suggested cutting that to $10,000. However, Mastriano has since revised that figure.

In an August campaign video he now says the vouchers would be an average of $15,000 to be spent on home school or at public schools, private schools or religious schools.

Mastriano also calls for an immediate ban on teaching critical race theory in public schools.

Mastriano says on his website that, in addition to eliminating property taxes for all homeowners, he would establish working groups to slash the gas tax and reduce the corporate net income tax rate.

He said he would create strike force teams at each state agency with the goal of cutting statewide regulations by 55,000 in the first year.

He said he would work with the General Assembly to introduce and pass legislation that would automatically review all regulations with a cost of more than $1 million, eliminate two regulations for any new regulation created, increase transparency for the permit process and expedite reviews.

Shapiro said on his campaign website that he would issue gas tax refunds of $250 for every personal passenger vehicle registered in the commonwealth — up to four per household.

He says he would also eliminate the state cellphone tax — specifically, the gross receipt and sales tax on cellphone service. By eliminating this 11% state tax, he says he can reduce Pennsylvanians’ tax burden by $317 million and save folks money on their monthly cellphone bill.

Lastly, Shapiro says he would lower household costs by expanding the property tax and rent rebate program, increasing the maximum rebate to $1,000 and making the program available to over 275,000 more eligible people.

Shapiro has vowed to be the last line of defense against legislation banning abortion.

On his campaign website, he said he would veto any bill that would restrict abortion rights, and he would expand access to reproductive care.

As attorney general, Shapiro repeatedly has come down firmly in support of protecting or expanding abortion rights. He challenged abortion bans in other states in court and argued against the Trump administration’s gag rule that barred funding for clinics that made referrals to or informed patients about abortion providers.

Mastriano said during a gubernatorial primary debate in April that a full ban on abortion should be instituted without exceptions for rape, incest or instances where the mother’s life is jeopardized by the pregnancy.

He said he would sign a “heartbeat bill” that would effectively ban abortion at about six weeks, end any state funding to Planned Parenthood and support funding for counseling and for adoption services.

As a state lawmaker, Mastriano has introduced his own “heartbeat bill.”

Mastriano has leveled harsh criticism at his Democratic opponent on the campaign trail over the crime rate in Pennsylvania.

But he has not proposed a plan for how to lower crime should he be elected. There is no mention of the issue on his campaign website, and he has offered few insights into what his administration would do to handle the problem.

Mastriano has said he would impose a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison for fentanyl dealers whose sales lead to overdose deaths and protect police from “social justice warriors” so law enforcement personnel won’t be prosecuted for a “split-second decision.”

He has proposed sending the state police to round up undocumented immigrants and take them to President Joe Biden’s Delaware home.

Shapiro details on his campaign website how he plans to make communities safer while advocating for criminal justice reforms.

He said that he would stop costly imprisonment for technical rule violations. Rather than spending taxpayer money on incarceration, he said he would reinvest that money into initiatives and programs that directly target getting violent criminals off the streets.

Shapiro promised to fund legal representation for indigent Pennsylvanians in his first budget. Currently, Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that allocates zero dollars to public defender’s offices.

He said he would continue to oppose mandatory minimum sentences, sign legislation to ensure those convicted of second-degree felony murder are not given a mandatory life sentence, support bills that create opportunities for elderly prisoners who are no longer deemed a threat, and advocate for the abolition of the death penalty and work to legalize recreational marijuana.

As he makes those changes to the criminal justice system, Shaprio says he would ensure that local police departments have the resources necessary to protect and serve their communities and will demand the Legislature fund police appropriately.

Shapiro says he would defend democracy by ensuring access to the ballot box and keeping elections secure.

On his campaign website, he says he would veto any efforts to restrict mail voting, expand early voting and set up automatic voter registration — making it easier than ever for legal voters to participate in democracy.

He says he would make state funds available so every county can conduct a post-election analysis through a risk-limiting audit, appoint a secretary of state to run elections that will uphold democracy and allow counties to precanvass mail ballots before election day to reduce delays in reporting election results.

Mastriano has a number of proposals that he says will help restore confidence in elections.

On his campaign website, he says he would immediately end all contracts with compromised voting machine companies, appoint a secretary of state with experience in securing elections from fraud and ban the use of private funds to influence elections.

He has also proposed making millions of registered voters register again.

Mastriano says he would also work with the General Assembly to eliminate no-excuse mail voting and ballot drop boxes, enact universal voter ID for those who go to the polls and increase the number of poll watchers.

In addition to major party candidates Josh Shapiro and Doug Mastriano, there will be three other candidates running to be the next governor of Pennsylvania on the Nov. 8 ballot.

• Christina DiGiulio, a former analytical chemist for the U.S. Department of Defense, is representing the Green Party. For more information on this candidate, visit facebook.com/PKforPA.

• Joe Soloski, a public accountant from Centre County, is representing the Keystone Party. For more information on this candidate, visit joesoloski.com.

• Matt Hackenburg, a computer engineer from Northampton County, is representing the Libertarian Party. For more information on this candidate, visit matthackenburg.com.

Click here for full Election 2022 coverage

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