Voter registration: 8,609,880.
Plurality: 855,770 votes (17.07 percentage points).

Notes:   Gov. Tom Wolf (D) won a second term, defeating state Sen. Scott Wagner (R) as well as Ken Krawchuk (L) and Paul Glover (G). 

Wolf ousted incumbent Gov. Tom Corbett (R) in 2014; he came to office from a business background at the Wolf Organization, which distributes cabinetry and building products.  He also served as Secretary of Revenue in the Rendell administration. 

Wagner runs a waste disposal company, Penn Waste, as well as several other companies; he was elected to the Senate as a write-in candidate a 2014 special election in District 28 (includes York and south and east to the Susquehanna River).  He announced his candidacy for governor on Jan. 12, 2017.

After a contentious campaign, Wagner defeated Paul Mango, a retired health care consultant, in the May 15, 2014 primary by a 44.30% to 36.87% margin, and 18.83% for Laura Ellsworth.  Wagner resigned from the Senate effective June 4 to focus on his campaign.

In Pennsylvania candidates for governor and lieutenant governor run separately in the primary, then as a ticket in the general election.  On Nov. 9, 2017 Wagner announced a team approach, naming business executive Jeff Bartos as his choice for lieutenant governor; Bartos finished first of four candidates in the primary with 46.78% of the vote.  On the Democratic side, Lt. Gov. Mike Stack finished fourth in the primary, and Braddock Mayor John Fetterman won the nomination with 37.48%.

There was just one debate between Wolf and Wagner, at the PA Chamber in Hershey on Oct. 1 (1, 2).  Moderator Alex Trebek, best known as host of "Jeopardy!," sought to hold a "conversation," but drew considerable criticism for "hogging the spotlight."  (The York Daily Record" opined it was "a Dumpster fire of a debate (>).

In the general election President Trump held two rallies in Pennsylvania, in Wilkes-Barre on Aug. 2 and in Erie on Oct. 10 (+).

Wagner made an unforced error with an Oct. 12 campaign video in which, speaking below a billboard attacking him, he warned Wolf, "Between now and Nov. 6th you better put a catcher's mask on your face because I'm going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes..."  The billboard ("Scott Wagner's Penn Waste Sued 6,979 Pennsylvanians...") was actually put up not by the Wolf campaign, but by Pennsylvania Spotlight, a 501(c)(4) "shining a light on the deep-pocketed special interests acting against the best interest of Pennsylvania residents."

Primary and general election campaigns spent a total of $61.5 million on the race, including $31.2 million by Wolf and $20.1 million by Wagner.  Wagner put a significant amount of his own money in his campaign.  The Wagner campaign raised eyebrows for investing excess campaign funds in the market.

Wolf campaign manager Sheridan wrote on his LinkedIn page that he managed a $31 million campaign with a staff of 25 people in seven departments.  He wrote, "The campaign resulted in Governor Wolf achieving the third largest gubernatorial win in the country by a margin of 17 points, garnering the most votes in Pennsylvania gubernatorial history, and flipping six counties that went Republican in 2016."  He added, "I executed a strategy, on behalf of Governor Wolf, to invest in targeted legislative races to reduce Republican majority, resulting in 11 House and 5 Senate seats flipping to Democrats."


Campaign Managers:
Tom Wolf:  Jeffrey Sheridan
(Jan. 2017)  Press secretary to Gov. Wolf, Jan. 2015-Jan. 2017; press secretary on the Wolf  transition; press secretary on Tom Wolf for Governor, Jan.-Nov. 2014.  Executive director of the Erie County Democratic Committee, April-Nov. 2013.  Public relations specialist for HealthNow New York, Jan.-April 2013.  District director for U.S. Rep. Kathleen Hochul (NY), Jan. 2012-Jan. 2013.  Buffalo office director for U.S. Rep. Louise Slaughter, May 2007-Dec. 2011.  Bachelor's degree in political science and government from Niagara University, 2008.

Scott Wagner:  Jason E. High
(Mar. 2017)  Served as Wagner's chief of staff in the state Senate from April 2014.  Vice president (Dec. 2012-Mar. 2014) and cyber threat specialist (Sept. 2011-Dec. 2012) at Reclamere (Tyrone, PA).  Implementation engineer at Global Tel*Link, Feb.-Sept. 2011.  Talk show host on Newstalk 1240 WRTA, May 2010, Sept. 2011.  Vice president of the Center for American Heritage, May 2010-Feb. 2011.  Campaign manager on Peg Luksik for U.S. Senate, Feb.-May 2010.  Chief of staff to states Sen. John Eichelberger, Jr., Jan. 2007-May 2010.  Systems administrator for Southern Alleghenies Planning & Development Commission, 1999-2006.