President Donald Trump has nominated Pennsylvania state Sen. Doug Mastriano to fill a vacant ambassadorship to the Slovak Republic.
The White House announced the pick Monday along with a series of nominations.
Mastriano, a Trump loyalist from Franklin County, has been a Republican state senator since 2019. He ran unsuccessfully for Congress in 2018 and for governor in 2022, losing the latter race to Democrat Josh Shapiro by 15 percentage points.
Although Mastriano hinted last year at another possible bid for governor, he announced in January that he would not run.
“I am deeply honored and humbled by President Trump’s nomination to serve as United States Ambassador to the Slovak Republic,” Mastriano, 62, said in a Facebook post late Monday afternoon.
“Upon Senate confirmation, I look forward to representing our nation abroad, strengthening the friendship between our two countries, and advancing the interests of the American people,” he added. “In the meantime, I remain fully committed to serving the people of Pennsylvania’s 33rd Senatorial District and will continue fulfilling my responsibilities while the Senate considers my nomination.”
The district includes all of Franklin and Adams counties in southcentral Pennsylvania.
Among other nominations announced Monday, Trump tapped Kari Lake to serve as the U.S. ambassador to Jamaica.
She most recently served as the acting head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which oversees Voice of America. During her time running the agency, she effectively shut down the government-run news outlet. A federal judge earlier this year ruled that Lake did not have the legal authority to take such actions. She previously ran unsuccessfully for governor of Arizona in 2022 and for one of Arizona’s U.S. Senate seats in 2024.
The Associated Press contributed.