Turncoat? Rove Super PAC boosts Democrat Shapiro in Pennsylvania over GOP opponent

A political advertisement from Karl Rove's American Crossroads boosts Josh Shapiro, the Democratic nominee for governor, over his opponent, Republican state Sen. Doug Mastriano, while at the same time criticizing Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman.

American Crossroads was founded by Karl Rove, former White House deputy chief of staff. The group is also linked to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Crossroads established the Senate Leadership Fund in the 2016 election cycle to help boost Republican Senate candidates upon the recommendation of McConnell, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Fetterman, Pennsylvania's lieutenant governor, is facing Republican Dr. Mehmet Oz.

"John Fetterman's record on crime is crazy," said a voter in the television ad.

"He's not like most Democrats," another voter said.

The ad puts Shapiro's record on crime against Fetterman's. Shapiro is currently the attorney general of Pennsylvania. He also served in the state House of Representatives from 2005 to 2012.

"225 times, Josh Shapiro voted against the criminals," declares a female in the ad. "But Fetterman voted to release them — that's nuts," exclaims a second. "Fetterman is way more radical than Shapiro," says a third.

Former GOP Senate candidate Kathy Barnette criticized the ad on social media.

"Have yall seen the new 'Republican' PAC commercial that says Shapiro is NOT as bad as Fetterman?" she wrote. "Yeah, that just happened, but carry on."

On Fox News Sunday this past week, Rove said there's a "weird dynamic" in Pennsylvania where Shapiro and Oz are being viewed as the "more centrist candidates," while Mastriano and Fetterman are seen as the "extremists outside of the mainstream."

Rove predicted that President Biden will not be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee and a 78-year-old won't be the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, which was a reference to former President Trump, who is 76 currently.