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GOP Caucus Meeting Straw Poll Results: Governor

Ahead of the PA GOP’s winter meeting the regional caucuses hold straw polls of the state party members to measure support for each of the candidates.

After the Central, Northeast, and NECRA caucuses met on January 6th, state Sen. Scott Wagner won all three straw polls, finishing the day with 91 votes.  State House Speaker Mike Turzai came in second overall with 30 votes, Paul Mango came in third with 17 votes, and Laura Ellsworth came in fourth with two votes.  

“I am honored to have the support of so many influential members of the Republican State Committee,” Wagner said.  

Though she received two votes in the straw polls, Ellsworth announced she would not be taking part in the straw polls.  

“I believe each GOP candidate for governor should make his or her case to all Republican voters in the May primary. Pennsylvanians are tired of politics as usual and insider deals. … An endorsement process controlled by insiders and career politicians is simply not the best course for our party,” Ellsworth said in a statement according to the Altoona Mirror.  

Update: Wagner won the Southeast caucus straw poll over the weekend, continuing to sweep the caucus straw polls. The straw poll though was the closest yet, with Wagner edging out Turzai by only eight votes.

“By adding the Southeast to his ongoing sweep of State Committee caucuses, Scott is demonstrating that his outsider candidacy has strong support in multiple corners of the Commonwealth,” Wagner campaign manager Jason High said in a release.

Update 2/3: Wagner and Turzai split the Southwest and Northwest Caucus straw polls, with Wagner taking the win in the Southwest and Turzai taking the Northwest.

“Today’s results are an indication that Scott is the clear favorite to receive the party’s endorsement going into the next weekend’s final State Committee meeting,” High said of Wagner’s win.

Even with the split results, Wagner still holds a large lead in the straw polls.  Though the polls are non-binding, the results begin to paint a picture of who the state party members will vote to endorse at the state committee meeting this weekend if they decide to endorse in the race.

Below are the caucus votes from the weekend.  They will be updated as the votes continue in the coming weeks.

60 Responses

  1. Gleason destroyed statewide R candidates every year he was top dog.
    State committee ineffective.
    Only chance is an outsider, like Mango.
    Otherwise, its 4 more of the same old, same old.
    Too bad Stack didnt run for Gov, I would vote for him.

  2. I’d be curious to know who Val’s people in Chester voted for since all the committee sheep vote for whoever he says.

    1. A good idea would be to look at the Southeast spread… Looks like Turzai and Wagner…

  3. For this celebrating Eagles fan and GOP stalwart, Wagner versus Turzai is like watching the Cowboys versus the Redskins. You wish both of them could lose.

  4. It’s like trying to pick your favorite GOP flavor:

    horse sh*t, cow sh*t or pig sh*t

    all of them stain your white robes

  5. So when Scott Wagner has 8 more votes than Mike Turzai in SEPA, you say he “won.”

    But when Mike Turzai beats Scott Wagner by 7 in the West, you say they “split” the vote.

    As biased as CNN. Fake news.

  6. During the past month, Wagner continues to clean-up

    I like and have liked Lou Barletta for at least a decade, when I heard him discuss what he was doing about the Illegals during a Temple Law School debate; his endorsement will make it more difficult to avoid endorsing a gubernatorial candidate as well.

  7. Wagner shills everywhere. I swear they have 4 people that are the only 4 people who support them openly that swarm every comment section and pretend to be multiple people. If your campaign is so solid and certain then why are you here shilling? I think you are scared because you don’t have anywhere near as many volunteers as Mango and you have relied on smoke and mirrors to get to this point expecting to only have to buy of the establishment to win. You though we would take their endorsement as the word from on high and not dispute. You were wrong, and while you were trying to rig the party Paul Mango has been talking to the people and building an army to help save this state for the People. Tell your candidate to do a few less downers before his next debate. He might fare better.

    1. Well according to this article Scott Wagner doesn’t have 4 supporters, he has at least 175. Paul Mango, on the other hand, has been campaigning for the endorsement for a year and has just 26 votes. I would say his lack or support is funny, but it’s actually kind of sad.

      1. Many are aboard the Mango Train….with many more added each day.
        Paul has a written plan to Make Pennsylvania Great Again.

        1. Hey Vicki, how many more Donald Trump cliches can you fit into your Mango propaganda? No matter how hard you try Mango will never be the Trump candidate in this race with the tens of thousands of dollars he gave to JEB Bush.

          1. Go ahead and keep endorsing the candidate who assaults people, gets PFA’s filed against him by his daughter, misses 109 votes, posts bail for child sex predators, voted for Rendell, and endorsed an lgbtq bathroom bill. Mango 4 Governor!!!

          2. Which one of the candidates was invited to the White House to discuss policy with President Trumps team? Not wagner, of yeah, it was Paul Mango. Who has 4 star generals and Trump’s trusted senior advisors supporting him and working with him? Not wagner, oh yeah, it’s Paul Mango again. Who has successfully created a statewide grassroots following enthusiastic to help and support? Not wagner, of yeah, again, it was Paul Mango. The one out of the two with multiple degrees of higher learning from the most prestigious institutions on the planet, the one who served his country, the one with tangible and valuable business experience, in regards to fixing the state, the one who is a true candidate and doesn’t back bathroom bill or corrupt dems for Governor (Rendell), the one who doesn’t assault his own daughter and other strangers. The one who didn’t miss 109 votes as a senator, the one the party doesn’t want, cuz he will actually reform their corrupt asses. Paul Mango 4 Governor. Wagner is a poser.

    1. but but but he’s the real conservative outsider…. says the increasingly nervous wagner campaign as everyone figures out he is the establishment as is Jeff Bartos. These two have individually endorsed a bathroom bill and endorsed a candidate who worked for planned parenthood, respectively. No thanks.

  8. One would figure that being the architect of the 2011 legislative gerrymandering and champion of voter ID (failed), the GOP would have shown “Turdseye” a little more love..

  9. Pretty embarrassing for Mango. The guy has spent nearly a year running around the state campaigning for the endorsement, spent a lot of money, and has just 23 votes to show for it. Combine that with his top top staffer just bailing on the campaign for greener pastures… ouch.

    1. Can you imagine being that unlikeable haha. Although having heard him speak, these results make sense.

          1. Paul is totally likable. Has gotten more ‘likes’ added to his page in the last months than all the other candidates combined. He has more volunteers than any other
            Paul’s stability, even-tone and level-headedness are boring to you. You are correct–Paul is not hype.

          2. Can’t help but notice you didn’t address the fact that he is condescending. I guess even the few people supporting him realize he is a pompous jerk. There is nothing likable about him. Maybe he should spend less time buying Facebook likes and more time working on his personality. He’s been running around for a year and is already losing to Turzai who has been campaigning for a fraction of the time. Paul is the nothing-man. No substance.

          3. I would take everythink Mark says with a grain of salt. We all know Paul has a very nice personality and he is very likeable it just sounds like Mark here just wants to be a troll. Call Mango is a man of integrity character faith and doesn’t have an arrogant bone in his body and we all know that however he is a soldier and he has exudes confidence so perhaps that’s what some people may take his arrogance but like I said we don’t know Mark he doesn’t sound very nice he just sounds like he wants to give somebody a hard time so I wouldn’t pay him any mind. Don’t you see how he’s mocking Paul by using the last name pineapple I mean give me a break. We’re dealing with immaturity here.

        1. Mark and “W. Clark are both the same poster. Wagner has his trolls attack these comment threads like crazy. They are getting destroyed and outed by the Mango Militia on FB so they have decided to turn the comments here into a shillfest. Best to just ignore. First they ignore, then they laugh, then they fight. We are close to showing them the people and NOT the party are in control, just like we did with President Trump, Wagner was their hedged bet to try and keep the establishment in power. We wont let them. Mango 2018 MPAGA!!!!

  10. Senator Wagner: check out rumors that the Gov’s “emergency opioid” order suspends PA’s open carry law and is form of gun control.

  11. also note:

    GOP straw polls favor Scott Wagner in PA governor race.

    h ttp://tr iblive.co m/local/allegheny/13162320-74/gop-straw-polls-favor-scott-wagner-in-pennsylvania-governor-race

  12. Wagner beats his daughter, Turzi beats his meat on the house floor. Not sure which one is more disqualifying.

  13. Scott Wagner is your next governor. The only questions now is…at what point does Turzai cry and take his ball home. I think it will be after the SEPA straw poll.

    1. Turzai will be out before the week ends. But on a serious note, Scott Wagner has run the best campaign I’ve seen in a long, long time. Some campaigns excel at winning over the donor class, some excel at winning the grassroots. Wagner has done both like no one has seen since…..

      1. keep telling yourself that. He is a clown who has the backing of the insiders and nothing else could be more obvious. No self respecting conservative would ever vote for a guy who back a trans bathroom bill.

        1. Got that right Steve. All he has done is flip flop on it since the campaign. Also, the guy shows up for work 78% of the time. He should take his current job as seriously as he wants to be Governor.

      2. Kool-aide? Sure, he may skate by the Republican primary, but did you honestly watch him in the debate over the weekend? The guy could barely put a sentence together. I felt embarrassed for him. Of the four candidates, he looked like a buffoon. Wolf will chew him up and spit him out.. all while you’re cheering on the sidelines thinking he is still in the lead…

    2. Wagner isn’t even close to being our next governor. Wolf will beat him handily in the fall. There is not much to like about Wagner either policy-wise or personally.

      1. I don’t think so. Wolf is very unpopular in both parties. Yet, so is Wagner. I say the March 13 Special election will tell us best.

        1. The Congressional Leadership Fund had their data director move into the district last month. Sounds like they are terrified of a Lamb victory and putting all hands on deck in a district that Trump won by 20 points. If the margin is single digits, regardless of which way it breaks, that is bad news for Republicans.

  14. Scott Wagner belongs in a straight jacket far away from political office. Wolf will destroy him. Republicans need to nominate Mango if they want to have a shot

    1. I don’t have kids but if I did I wouldn’t let Paul Mango anywhere near them. Guy is a creep.

      1. Are you kidding me? What makes you think making comments like this is OK? BTW Wagner is the one who’s daughter filed a PFA against him and has been married 3 times. Mango is still married to the same woman he had 5 daughters with.

        1. Paul Mango is the candidate with integrity. A faithful husband; his daughters love him.

    1. Here we go, the establishment said vote this way, so I guess we don’t have a choice do we/ Get out of here. we don’t care what these cronies say./

      1. I’m hardly “establishment”; what these data suggest overwhelmingly is the need to consolidate behind a Trumpist-winner ASAP.

        1. Wagner is a Trump wannabe. He makes Trump look emotionally stable. I hate that Republicans feel the need to appeal to racists and unsophisticated working class tubes in order to win, good policy be damned!

          1. that you are “anonymous” conveys all that is necessary regarding the credibility of your comment

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