GOP Senate hopeful will run for Lt. Gov.
WASHINGTON — In a shake-up for two statewide races, Philadelphia RepublicanJeff Bartos is dropping out of Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senate race and joining the gubernatorial ticket of state Sen. Scott Wagner, according to three Pennsylvania GOPsources.
A formal announcement is expected Thursday.
Mr. Bartos will run as Mr. Wagner’s lieutenant governor candidate. His decision removes the main obstacle for U.S. Rep. Lou Barletta on his path to the Republican nomination for the Senate.
Mr. Barletta and Mr. Bartos had been the two most active figures among a handful of Republicans vying for the chance to challenge Democratic Sen. Bob Casey next year.
But Mr. Bartos has been boxed out of the Senate primary by Mr. Barletta, a close ally of President Donald Trump who is likely to secure the bulk of the party’s organizational support. Mr. Bartos thus stands a better chance at winning elected office with Mr. Wagner.
Mr. Wagner, a York County Republican hoping to take on Gov. Tom Wolf, benefits by strengthening his ticket, outflanking primary rival Paul Mango — a Western Pennsylvania businessman — and another potential contender, Mike Turzai, the speaker of the state House.
Mr. Bartos could not be reached Wednesday, but several Republicans familiar with the plan confirmed his intention. Mr. Wagner did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but he posted on Facebook on Monday that a “big announcement” would be “coming soon.”
Matt Beynon, a spokesman for Mr. Mango, released a statement mocking the move and Mr. Bartos’ posturing as a “real conservative.”
“The news of the newly formed ‘ticket’ of Scott Wagner-Jeff Bartos must have one Pennsylvanian grinning from ear-to-ear: former Democrat Governor Ed Rendell,” Mr. Beynon said. “Both Wagner and Bartos were supporters of Rendell during his 2002 governor’s campaign — the first of several instances where these ‘conservative outsiders’ supported liberal Democrats running against real conservatives in Pennsylvania.”
Mr. Wagner has long fashioned himself as an anti-establishment candidate, winning his state Senate seat in a 2014 writein campaign for a special election and serving as an early booster in 2016 for Mr. Trump’s campaign in Pennsylvania.
Mr. Bartos, a real estate executive from Lower Merion who has never run for office, has ties to the state’s Republican establishment, having served on the board of a political action committee headed by Bob Asher, a Republican National Committee member from Montgomery County.
But he declared himself a political “outsider” in his campaign and attacked Mr. Barletta and Mr. Casey as career politicians.
Like Mr. Wagner, Mr. Bartos has not been shy about dipping into his own pocket for campaign expenses. He had just over $1 million in his Senate political action committee as of Sept. 30, more than half from loans to the PAC, according to a campaign finance report filed Oct. 13.
Mr. Bartos made two personal loans, totaling $550,000, in June and September.
What becomes of that money could say a lot about the new Wagner-Bartos partnership. Federal and state campaign finance laws make it easy to move money from federal PACs, whichoperate under contribution limits, to statewide PACs, which do not. It is far more difficult to move money in the other direction.
Last month, Mr. Bartos wrote on Breitbart, a rightwing news site run by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, that he “will not pledge” to back U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican who serves as majority leader.
Mr. McConnell is a popular target for Mr. Bannon and like-minded anti-establishment political activists on the right.
With Mr. Bartos out of the Senate race, several other Republicans are challenging Mr. Barletta for the nomination: Paul Addis, state Rep. Jim Christiana, Bobby Lawrence, Cynthia E. Ayers, and Joseph Vodvarka.