HARRISBURG — A Republican state senator who has helped spread conspiracy theories about last year's presidential election is all but officially declaring that he will run for governor.

Sen. Doug Mastriano, R-Franklin, said in appearances online over the weekend that he has reached the fundraising goal he set to formally become a candidate for governor and is organizing an announcement rally on Jan. 8 near his home in Southcentral Pennsylvania.

Mastriano is the third state senator to enter the double-digits-deep Republican field seeking the nomination to potentially succeed outgoing Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat.

Mastriano, 57, has become a one-man force in conservative politics in Pennsylvania, leading anti-mask protests last year, pushing to overturn former President Donald Trump's reelection loss and showing up outside the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6 insurrection. That prompted Democrats to call for his resignation, although Mastriano maintains that he did nothing wrong and was not charged.

Mastriano was first elected to the Senate in 2019 after retiring as a colonel from the U.S. Army and losing an eight-way primary for an open congressional seat.