He applied to win elections in a In no way-Trump stronghold. Now he’s leading Trump’s lawful staff.

The improvement instantly touched off questions above no matter if Castor was introduced onboard precisely since of his prior job as a county commissioner in 1 of the destinations where Trump was most obsessed with baseless promises of election fraud. It also stunned lots of insiders who saw Castor as a reasonable Republican who generally arrived at throughout the aisle, top to speculation that he may possibly be repositioning himself to operate for Senate or governor in 2022.

“I was shocked. Bruce has been in personal observe,” reported Ken Lawrence, a Democratic Montgomery County commissioner. “Bruce was a law-and-purchase, center-of-the-road conservative Republican.”

Individuals who know Castor reported the previous prosecutor may possibly have been drawn to the gig for a reason other than fascination in better place of work: his properly-acknowledged love for the cameras. As an intense district attorney with a major identity in the 2000s, he routinely appeared on tv although pursuing high-profile murder conditions that garnered the focus of the news media.

“Prosecutors like the limelight,” explained Larry Ceisler, a Philadelphia-dependent public relations executive who has known Castor for a long time. “My guess is he probably misses it to a selected degree. It’s an intriguing problem. Barring something bizarre going on, he ought to be able to win the circumstance.”

Castor has reported that Trump’s camp contacted him about the career, according to a particular person who has spoken with the former D.A. lately. A Trump aide did not answer to a request for remark.

Trump’s campaign earlier sued Montgomery County’s Board of Elections above its final decision to rely selected mail-in ballots. The former president homed in on the area — and the metropolis of Philadelphia, in certain — all through his efforts to undermine the election benefits.

In a assertion, Castor mentioned: “I take into consideration it a privilege to stand for the 45th President. The energy of our Structure is about to be examined like by no means just before in our heritage. It is powerful and resilient. A document composed for the ages, and it will triumph around partisanship however once again, and generally.”

It is unclear whether Castor will amplify Trump’s fraud accusations during the Senate demo. Trump’s place of work said Castor and Schoen were “bringing countrywide profiles and sizeable trial practical experience in significant-profile circumstances to the energy.”

In Pennsylvania, Castor was extended identified as a colourful politician who at instances fought with his have bash, significantly just after a fellow Republican county commissioner sidelined him to co-lead with a Democrat. When Democrat Josh Shapiro took the helm of the Board of Commissioners, Castor praised his Democratic colleagues and reported he was “extremely proud of them.”

Castor’s standing sank when he testified in 2016 about his 2005 determination to not criminally prosecute Invoice Cosby, who was afterwards found responsible of sexual assault.

Castor’s determination to signify the previous president was noticed in some circles as yet another indicator of the Pennsylvania GOP’s transfer to the appropriate in recent decades. At the time a condition regarded for electing average Republicans these as Arlen Specter to the Senate and Dick Thornburgh as governor, it is now one particular whose condition celebration has tied alone carefully to Trump.

If Castor runs for the open up seat for Senate or governor following 12 months, Republican operatives said that a starring part in Trump’s impeachment trial could help him acquire around the party’s foundation. Castor previously ran for attorney normal and eyed a operate for governor.

“Since the America First movement is not going any place, it’s politically savvy for Bruce Castor, Jr. to stand with President Trump throughout this unconstitutional impeachment,” claimed Greg Manz, a previous Pennsylvania Republican Party spokesperson who worked on Trump’s marketing campaign in 2016 and 2020. “Especially if he has future ambitions for elected office environment in Pennsylvania.”

Castor did not answer to a request for remark on numerous concerns, including regardless of whether he is intrigued in bigger business.

In Castor’s yard, elected officials on both of those the still left and right were not happy with the news that he is heading Trump’s legal staff.

Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Gale, a vocal supporter of Trump, reported he is “disappointed” that the former president hired Castor, whom he identified as “a longtime lapdog” of Shapiro, who is now Pennsylvania’s legal professional typical.

“In the four many years that Castor served on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners with Shapiro, he was nothing extra than a GOP rubber-stamp for the Democrat agenda,” Gale mentioned of Castor. “Frankly, President Trump ought to characterize himself or skip this kangaroo court impeachment listening to altogether and dare 17 hack Republican senators to convict him of these bogus rates.”

Lawrence, the Democratic county commissioner, claimed: “Bruce understands how elections run at the county degree simply because we run the county. So I would hope that that would not be component of the defense … that someway this was a stolen election.”