Doug Mastriano has a secret. The Republican nominee for Pennsylvania governor says hes chosen someone to serve as the commonwealths next secretary of state a position that will hold enormous power over the 2024 presidential election. But he wont tell voters who it is.

In normal circumstances, that reticence to name a key appointment so early in a gubernatorial contest would hardly be notable. But secretary of state positions have attracted unprecedented attention since the 2020 election, as Republican candidates who have embraced the conspiracy theory that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump have lined up to run for positions that would give them the power to oversee future elections. And Mastriano is one of the nations foremost election skeptics: The state senator tried to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Pennsylvania, then bused supporters to Washington, D.C., on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Because Pennsylvania is among the states in which the governor appoints the secretary of state, the 2022 gubernatorial race is essentially a Buy one, get one deal for Republican election deniers: A Mastriano victory all but ensures that the next secretary of the commonwealth will be someone who shares his anti-democratic zeal toward the 2020 election and who could work closely with Mastriano to roll back voting rights, overhaul Pennsylvanias election system or even refuse to certify future results, including in the 2024 presidential contest.

Mastriano understands the power he would hold as governor. He argued to Republican voters during the primary that he could decertify every voting machine were he elected, and he has openly hinted that he has already chosen a potential secretary of state who shares his views.

As governor, I get to appoint the secretary of state. And I have a voting-reform-minded individual whos been traveling the nation and knows voting reform extremely well, Mastriano said during an April appearance on ex-Trump adviser Steve Bannons podcast. That individual has agreed to be my secretary of state.

He later told a local Pennsylvania news station that he has already assembled a team of people that would work for this individual.