Businessman Tom Wolf cleanly won the Democratic nomination for governor in Pennsylvania, beating out a crowded field of Democrats and setting him up to face embattled Gov. Tom Corbett (R) in the general election.
Wolf won with 56 percent of the vote followed by Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-PA) with 21 percent and state Treasurer Rob McCord with 15 percent, with 24 percent of precincts reporting.
Wolf was the frontrunner for most of the race despite significant fundraising by other candidates like McCord and Schwartz.
Corbett is generally considered to be one of the most endangered Republican governors in the country.
Since when is it news that a candidate is a millionaire?
http://archive.11alive.com/rss/article/213220/40/How-many-millionaires-in-Congress
P.s. Congratulations!
Rep. Allyson Schwartz must be miserable. She gave up her House seat to compete in a primary for gubernatorial candidate, only to lose primary by 20+ points!
Philadelphia was hers to lose, and she did it. She did not really start any type of ad campaign until about 5 weeks before the election, by which time everyone in the state knew Wolf through a bunch of unbelievably effective and positive TV ads (I had never heard of him until the first ad, and I immediately liked him after it even though I realized i knew little about his ability to govern). Philadelphia needs to be loved if it is going to come out and balance the rest of the state vote. I voted for her, although I do not know how well she would have handled a Republican legislature at war with itself (Tea Party Repubs vs. Repubs just in it to make sure they stay rich and get richer) and a small but powerful group of D’s that care little about anything but their own narrow interests. Rendell was not too good at it, for all of the hoopla— he left highway and transit funding in a mess, and Corbett easily dismantled his educational reforms. I don’t know if Wolf will do any better, but fortunately for him everyone hates Corbett, who has done nothing but destroy state funding for public schools and colleges, allow fracking with taxes lower than even Texas, ticked off everyone who you would expect to be his friend, and, just this year, increased gasoline taxes by 30¢-40¢/gal.
A year ago, when I saw Rachel Maddow interview Rep Schwartz, i turned to my wife and said: “She’s not ready for prime time.” No gravitas and what appeared to be only a superficial understanding of policy. Glad we went with someone else, as this is a prime pickup opportunity.
Well, one thing about the rest of the state, we are wary of all things Philadelphia. So that’s a fine line to walk there. Rendell is widely recognized as a gangster out here.
I didn’t like the tone of Schwartz’ ads: they seem desperate and stretching to the point of being misleading. McCord turned into something vile. As DEP head, McGinty approved Rendell’s contributor-buddy’s coal waste fired power plant the day before new more stringent emissions rules were to go into effect so she was disqualified. So Wolf it is.
If we can get a severance tax on all this fracking that’s ruining our lives, it’ll be a small victory.