Tom Wagner. A living example of an extinct species: a duly elected Republican in statewide office. He has been in office for years, so long that I was still in freaking middle school when he was first appointed to the office (I’m knocking on 40 now). And he has been living on borrowed time. In 2010, he barely got re-elected by 0.8% of the vote…. against the now indicted Richard Korn. This time around, he has a very credible upstart challenger in Brenda Mayrack.
Celia Cohen reported that Wagner has raised only $26,540. For the entire year of 2013. Wagner says he is:
“I’m confident I’ll have money to run a decent campaign, but it’s tough raising money right now. We’re hoping to raise $200,000 by the time it’s over and done,” Wagner said.
It seems to me that Mr. Wagner would have spent last year building a war chest to frighten off any challengers, like Dennis E. Williams has done (although that really didn’t work since Williams has a primary challenge). Wagner didn’t. Even if he says he is running, is he? Is his heart in it? And a Republican not raising money? That tells me that donors are staying away. The scent of death on Wagner must be strong.