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Police: Man threatens women with cinder block

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Our view: County leaders, law enforcement shined during courthouse evacuation

<p>HARRISBURG &#8212; State senator and waste-hauling millionaire Scott Wagner won Tuesday&#8217;s three-way Republican primary contest to challenge Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, capping a personal spending spree that helped make Wagner the front-runner and the GOP&#8217;s endorsed candidate.</p><p>Wagner defeated two first-time candidates from the Pittsburgh area, Paul Mango and Laura Ellsworth, surviving weeks of Mango&#8217;s sharp-elbowed attack ads that painted Wagner as sleazy, greedy and a &#8220;deadbeat dad.&#8221;</p><p>With 88 percent of precincts reporting statewide, Wagner had 270,229 votes, or 44 percent, compared to Mango&#8217;s 228,149, or 37 percent, the Associated Press was reporting. Ellsworth had picked up 115,686, or 19 percent, of votes cast, according to the unofficial results.</p><p>Wagner pumped more than $10 million of his own cash into his campaign, and he spread hundreds of thousands more around the state since last year to boost GOP committees and candidates.</p><p>Mango, a former health care systems consultant, fell short despite seizing the mantle of conservatism and spending $7 million of his own on the campaign. Ellsworth, a commercial litigation attorney, never mustered that kind of cash, and she and Mango were relative unknowns when they began their campaigns.</p><p>Tuesday&#8217;s victory for Wagner sets up a November election between two York County residents who made millions of dollars in business before entering politics, although their similarities don&#8217;t go much further.</p><p>Wagner is brash &#8212; &#8220;I am going to be the next governor, take that to the bank,&#8221; he said last year &#8212; and has a penchant for off-the-cuff speaking that makes him a magnet for controversy. Wolf is soft-spoken and chooses his words carefully.</p><p>Wagner, 62, never graduated from college and says he &#8220;barely&#8221; got through high school. Wolf, 69, has a bachelor&#8217;s degree from Dartmouth College and a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.</p><p>Wagner fashions himself as a garbage man coming to clean up a profligate state government that chokes the economy with regulations and taxes. He singles out public-sector labor unions as a particular target of his vitriol and has inspired comparisons to President Donald Trump.</p><p>Wagner has compiled one of the Senate&#8217;s most conservative voting records, although he occasionally goes against GOP orthodoxy on issues, such as supporting an increase in the minimum wage.</p><p>Wolf likely will attack Wagner as posing a danger to programs for children, schools and seniors, while Wagner likely will attack Wolf as a serial tax hiker, an out-of-touch elitist and a lousy leader.</p><p>The governor leads a unified Democratic Party into the fall with midterm political winds at his back.</p><p>Wolf&#8217;s polling numbers suggest he is in a comfortable spot to seek re-election, political scientists say, and he has worked to show that he can deftly operate the levers of government despite butting heads inside the state Capitol with huge Republican legislative majorities.</p><p>Wolf also will have a big cash advantage: Wolf headed into May with $14 million in his campaign account, while Wagner reported $2.2 million.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_Scott-Wagner-Scorecard-Portrait-2.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wagner </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_Scott-Wagner-Scorecard-Portrait-2.jpg</photo0><caption0>Wagner </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Marc Levy</p><p>Associated Press</p></bylineMeta></div>

Waste hauler-turned-lawmaker Wagner is GOP’s pick to face Wolf