The Never-Trump GOP Leaders Who Tried to Stop Pennsylvania's Historic Red Wave
How a pair of Dauphin County RINO's sided with the swamp over MAGA
The 2024 election wasn’t just a victory—it was a seismic shift. Pennsylvania’s grassroots declared loud and clear that they are the heartbeat of the modern Republican Party. President Donald J. Trump and America First Republicans didn’t just win; they redefined what it means to fight for the people. Fueled by an unwavering coalition of patriots, Pennsylvania turned red, proving the MAGA movement isn’t just alive—it’s thriving and expanding every single day.
But as history reminds us, every revolution faces resistance. And in Pennsylvania, the greatest obstacles aren’t from the Democrats—they’re from within. From entrenched establishment figures clinging to their relics of power to “Republicans” who cozy up to the left, the battle for the soul of the GOP is far from over.
Scott Presler: The Architect of Pennsylvania’s Comeback
At the epicenter of this revival is the great Scott Presler, the visionary founder of Early Vote Action and a name that will be etched into Pennsylvania’s history. Presler has traversed all 67 counties of Pennsylvania many times over, building an army of committed staff and volunteers. Their relentless efforts, combined with powerful alliances with organizations like Cliff Maloney’s PA Chase, Turning Point Action, and Elon Musk’s America PAC, that defy conventional politics and transformed Pennsylvania’s political landscape.
PA Chase mobilized 150 staff who knocked on over half a million doors.
Noah Formica of Turning Point Action personally registered 3,000+ new voters.
Elon Musk’s America PAC energized crowds, rallying thousands across the state.
This isn’t mere voter outreach—it’s a lasting movement. A blueprint for reclaiming our state and our future, one voter and neighborhood at a time. Yet, while this coalition propelled the red wave, some counties resisted the tide. Chief among them: Dauphin County, my lifelong home and the unfortunate stronghold of complacent GOP leadership.
Dauphin County: The Swamp Within Our Own Party
Dauphin County epitomizes everything wrong with the outdated Republican establishment. Despite overwhelming grassroots energy and proven strategies, county GOP Chairman David Feidt, rejected collaboration. His excuse? A stubborn allegiance to doing things “the way they’ve always been done.”
This obstinance came at a high cost. But it’s clear that Chairman Feidt, a lobbyist and political consultant with ties to left-wing special interests, has transformed the county GOP into a private club for insiders, prioritizing control over progress.
The most glaring betrayal lies in Feidt’s unwavering loyalty to State Rep. Tom Mehaffie, a faux Republican who consistently aligns with his pal, Democrat Governor Josh Shapiro and the Democrats on every issue Republicans care about.
Tom Mehaffie: The RINO in Harrisburg
Mehaffie’s track record is a laundry list of betrayals:
Opposing school choice.
Supporting carbon taxes and gas stove bans.
Backing taxpayer-funded puberty blockers.
Voting a Democrat Speaker of the House
Blocking Voter ID
Mehaffie is widely known across our Commonwealth as the biggest RINO in Harrisburg, and he has voted this way for the past decade. Why? Because he is owned by the same far left-wing special interests who own Governor Josh Shapiro and the PA Democrats. In a solidly red district, Mehaffie runs unopposed because the Democrats clear the field for him. This isn’t representation—it’s a rigged game.
A County Held Hostage
As the Dauphin County Regional Coordinator for Early Vote Action, I know that our team reached out repeatedly to the Dauphin County GOP leadership to coordinate joint-voter registration and GOTV efforts. Just as we did in every other county, including four historically blue counties that we successfully flipped to red.
However, for some reason, in Dauphin we were met with the cold shoulder. Chairman Feidt, perhaps at the direction of his favorite client (Rep. Tom Mehaffie) rejected every offer of collaboration. This not only occurred with our organization, but with PA Chase, Turning Point Action, Swamp the Vote, America PAC, and every other grassroots group. Despite the PAGOP instructing every county to partner with the effective grassroots organizations like ours, Feidt chose instead to isolate Dauphin county from the red wave sweeping Pennsylvania.
The most unfortunate part was our awareness of the countless dedicated Dauphin County GOP committee-members and staff who were stuck taking orders from these so-called leaders, and were forced to reflect the same indifference toward us. This was evident during each of our visits to HQ where there was barely any campaign materials for Trump, McCormick, or Perry—just on stacks upon stacks of cringe Tom Mehaffie flyers collecting dust. That isn’t leadership. It’s negligence.
And when real challenges arose over the last year, Chairman Feidt and Rep. Mehaffie’s silence was deafening.
During the tragic failed assassination attempt on President Trump in Butler, which took the life of Corey Comperatore, Mehaffie stayed silent.
When radical left-wing extremists targeted free speech events with Tucker Carlson and Elon Musk in his own district, Mehaffie said nothing.
When Governor Josh Shapiro slandered and belittled Brigadier General (HIS Congressman) Scott Perry’s 40 years of military service, Mehaffie looked the other way.
Thankfully, Dauphin County residents, and particularly Republicans living in PA-106 are starting to see through Mehaffie’s duplicity as he votes with the Democrats’ America Last policies that hurt working Pennsylvanians who are living paycheck to paycheck while he relaxes at his his multi-million-dollar beach home in Delaware.
They see David Feidt for who and what he is—a Never Trump Globalist, and Cheney-Romney Republican—who seems to benefit from Mehaffie’s staunch support of the Democrats' left-wing policies, while steering our county party into irrelevance.
They see Mehaffie’s beachside complacency and Feidt’s insider politics for what they are: obstacles to progress. Their leadership has been defined by cowardice and self-preservation. These are NOT champions of the people; like Vice President Harris, Tim Walz, Josh Shapiro and the Democrats, they are gatekeepers of the status-quo.
The Path Forward: A New GOP of Liberty and the People
Despite Dauphin County’s establishment roadblocks, Pennsylvania’s grassroots achieved what many deemed impossible. Precincts in Derry Township flipped red, delivering decisive victories for President Trump, Congressman Perry, and Senator McCormick.
This success signals more than a political win—it’s a wake-up call. Scott Presler’s vision of “Floridifying” Pennsylvania by 2028 is already underway. The Early Vote Action Team and our partners are working tirelessly to turn even the bluest counties red, one newly registered voter and door knocked at a time.
To achieve this, we must (peacefully and purposefully) confront the swamp within our own party and replace self-serving politicians of that past with leaders who will put Pennsylvania—and America—first.
The Republican party has evolved. No longer a bastion for elites, it’s now a grand coalition of working and middle-class Americans united under the banner of liberty and the American Dream. It’s the party of Donald J. Trump, Elon Musk, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, and Vivek Ramaswamy.
To those who cling to the old ways—like Mehaffie and Feidt—the Democrat Party awaits you. For the rest of us, this is our moment. Together, we will grow this movement, elect leaders who represent the people, and build a future worthy of Pennsylvania’s boundless potential.
The best is yet to come.
