Gov. Wolf’s campaign advertising budget: $10M since June

With six weeks to go until Election Day, Gov. Wolf maintains a significant fund-raising edge over Republican Scott Wagner, according to campaign-finance reports made public Tuesday.

Wolf, a Democrat seeking a second term, outspent Wagner $13.5 million to $3.4 million over the last three months, a factor of four.

The governor ended the reporting period — from June 5 to Sept. 17 — with $8.9 million in his reelection campaign account, nearly five times as much as Wagner's $1.8 million.

The filings show that after spending heavily to win the primary in May, Wagner, a former state senator who owns a waste-hauling company in York County, has not fully recovered. He trails Wolf in public polls by double digits.

Wolf is campaigning on his record of reversing education cuts made by his predecessor and pitching himself as a different kind of politician who refuses to accept gifts from lobbyists. Wagner is selling himself as a self-made businessman who would cut regulations to unleash economic growth.

Wolf's campaign spent about $10 million on TV and digital advertising and contributed $1.8 million to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, the records show. Wagner spent $1.4 million.

Among Wolf's top donors for the three-month period: the state teachers' union ($350,000); the state carpenters' union ($250,000), a political action committee controlled by the Philadelphia trial lawyers' association ($200,000); and Fairness PA ($500,000), a PAC funded in part by doctors and lawyers who own pharmacies. Prior to Tuesday's disclosure, Fairness PA already had contributed more than $1 million to Wolf's campaign.

An Inquirer and Daily News investigation last year found that the pharmacies' ownership structures raised potential conflicts of interest.

Asked Monday by reporters in Harrisburg about the PAC's previous contributions, Wolf said: "I'm not swayed by people who give me money."

For his part, Wagner's campaign received $1 million from Students First PAC, which advocates for school choice. It is affiliated with a group founded by Betsy DeVos, secretary of the U.S. Department of Education.