Doug Mastriano bizarrely pledged to ban pole dancing from schools if he is elected governor of Pennsylvania

• Doug Mastriano, the GOP gubernatorial candidate for Pennsylvania, promised to ban pole dancing from schools.
• He did not provide evidence of pole dancing being taught in any schools.

Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano, who is the Republican candidate for governor, said he would ban pole dancing in schools if he was elected.

"On day one, the sexualization of our kids, pole dancing, and all this other crap that's going on will be forbidden in our schools," Mastriano says while on stage at an event, as seen in a video.

He also said he would ban "graphic, pornographic books that are in elementary schools" as well as critical race theory.

He did not provide evidence of pole dancing and pornographic books being taught in any schools.

—The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) October 1, 2022

Mastriano also said that if elected, he would make sure "woke is broke" and ban "pronoun games" in elementary schools.

His comments play on a growing right-wing moral panic accusing teachers of sexualizing children by talking about gender identity and sexuality.

Schools have increasingly become the center of culture wars as Republicans have accused liberal teachers of grooming children.

Mastriano, who has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump, has previously voiced controversial views, including that women should be charged with murder for violating abortion bans.

He has also been working with a coalition of election-denying Trump loyalists who hope to influence future elections in battleground states, Nevada secretary of state candidate Jim Marchant previously told Insider.

He previously said that he prayed Congress would "rise up" on January 6 and "disregard" Pennsylvania's election results.