PA Governor's Race 2018: Wagner Wins GOP Nomination

State Sen. Scott Wagner of York County won Pennsylvania's Republican gubernatorial nomination Tuesday, defeating two challengers from the Pittsburgh area and setting up a battle with Democratic incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf in the November general election.

The Associated Press declared Wagner the winner around 10 p.m. Tuesday. With 96 percent of the vote counted, the results are:

• Wagner: 315,882 (44.2 percent).

• Paul Mango: 263,956 (37 percent).

• Laura Ellsworth: 134,381 (18.8 percent).

Wagner, 62, amassed a fortune in the waste-hauling industry before seeking public office. Mango, 59, is a former health care consultant and ex-army paratrooper from Allegheny County. Ellsworth, 59, is a commercial litigation attorney and former chairwoman of the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.

Wagner put more than $10 million of his own money into his campaign, enough to successfully ward off attack ads from Mango portraying him as greedy and a deadbeat dad

Wolf will have the advantage of incumbency and considerably more money in his campaign coffers going into the general election. The governor entered May with $14 million available, while Wagner had $2.2 million, according to campaign finance reports.

Photo: Pennsylvania State Senate.