Pa. Republicans prepare to nominate challenger to Gov. Wolf

Pennsylvania's contentious, months-long Republican gubernatorial primary campaign is coming to a head, as voters head to the polls Tuesday to nominate their candidate to challenge Gov. Wolf in November.

State Sen. Scott Wagner, owner of waste-hauling and trucking firms; retired McKinsey & Co. consultant Paul Mango; and lawyer Laura Ellsworth are vying for their party's nomination.

The stakes are high: The GOP controls the legislature, and a Republican governor would likely try to move the commonwealth in a conservative direction on everything from tax policy to public education, Medicaid eligibility, and abortion rights. Democrats see Wolf's reelection as a key check on those efforts, even as the legislature has thwarted much of his agenda.

Wagner and Mango have invested millions of their own dollars bashing each other in television ads. Mango has lobbed deeply personal attacks, labeling Wagner a "deadbeat dad" and slumlord.

Ellsworth, former chair of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce, portrays herself as the adult in the room, whose pragmatic approach gives her the best chance to beat Wolf, a Democrat seeking his second term in a state Donald Trump won in 2016.

Public polling has been scant, though a survey released this week showed Wagner with a double-digit lead over both opponents. A big chunk was still undecided.

The campaigns have spent a combined $20 million, records show.

Wagner, whose shoot-from-the-hip style has drawn comparisons to Trump, has effectively been running for governor since he won the state's first-ever write-in campaign to the Senate in 2014. The party opposed him at the time, calling him a "millionaire trash man" in ads. Now he's the state GOP's endorsed candidate.

The president of York County-based Penn Waste Inc., which reported $75 million in revenues last year, he has pitched himself to voters as the only candidate in the primary who has signed workers' paychecks and who knows how to create jobs.

"I see firsthand how much state government takes," he says in his most recent ad. "I'm blunt, outspoken, and determined. I'm a garbageman. You won't always agree with me, but know this, I'm on a mission to protect your paycheck, cut your taxes, and I will always put you first."

While Wagner has focused his message on jobs and what he calls excessive regulations, Mango has campaigned as a social conservative in the mold of Rick Santorum, the former U.S. senator and presidential candidate from Pennsylvania.

In debates and in television ads, Mango has slammed Wagner for sponsoring legislation that would extend anti-discrimination protections to LGBT people in the workplace, housing, and public accommodations like schools.

Mango argues that the legislation would open the door to boys "sharing bathrooms" with girls. The bill doesn't mention bathrooms, but experts have said that judges could interpret it as protecting transgender people's right to use the bathroom that corresponds to their gender identity.

Mango's message has been amplified by a conservative outside group called American Principles Project, which months ago launched the website StopScottWagner.com and says that by Tuesday it will have spent $500,000 attacking Wagner over the issue.

Wagner says the attacks are misleading and that the anti-discrimination measure is a matter of fairness.

The race grew ugly last month, when Mango, angry that the senator had branded him an "Obamacare advocate," ran an ad that depicted a "deadbeat dad" cartoon-like version of Wagner being hauled into court and ordered to pay $800,000 in back alimony and child support. The Mango campaign cited court records from 2012 stemming from Wagner's divorce. At issue was a dispute over his income.

A judge wrote that Wagner's "total arrearage" under a recalculated obligation was about $800,000. There was no indication that the senator had missed any payments. His campaign has said he made all payments on time.

"I'm not attacking anyone's character," Mango said at a debate last month. "What I'm doing is revealing my opponent's character."

Mango's ad teased a forthcoming spot about "Violent Wagner," but the campaign had not aired it as of Friday.

Taking a new tack, its latest ad shows the sun rising in a "new day" for Pennsylvania and describes Mango as a "successful businessman," "dedicated father" (tossing the football with his family), and "American patriot" (shaking President Ronald Reagan's hand as a West Point graduate).

Ellsworth, who led the Pittsburgh office of the international law firm Jones Day for more than a decade, in her ad promises a "different kind of leadership" as a governor who would put "people before politics."

While the candidates largely agree on issues like rolling back regulations, lowering the corporate tax rate, seeking a federal waiver to impose work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries, and ending Wolf's moratorium on the death penalty, there are notable differences.

Wagner and Mango say they support legislation that would eliminate property taxes and make up the difference for school funding by raising the sales and income taxes. Ellsworth argues that's a risky way to fund schools, because revenue would dry up in an economic downturn.

She wants to freeze property taxes for anyone who's been paying the levy in Pennsylvania for 35 years.

Unlike his rivals, Wagner wants to raise the state's minimum wage, which matches the federal $7.25 an hour, to about $9.50.

But any proposal, of course, will need the backing of the state legislature, which, though now dominated by Republicans has shown resistance at times to governors regardless of party.