Aug 31, 2018 2 min read

It’s not easy running against a fairly popular incumbent governor. Just ask Republican challenger Scott Wagner, who is fighting an uphill battle against current Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf.

Wagner would like nothing more than to have a slew of debates against Wolf, because that would give him opportunity after opportunity to sling mud at the governor. Wolf has agreed to a single debate ahead of the Nov. 6 election.

However frustrating this must be for Wagner and Republicans, it’s simply smart politics on Wolf’s part.

According to a recent NBC News/Marist poll, Wolf holds a 54 percent to 40 percent advantage over his challenger. Why in the world would he want to give Wagner more chances to take potshots at him?

Some might argue that Wolf should appear in multiple debates so that the people can hear him discuss his plans for a second term, and so that they can see how the candidates fare in an exchange of ideas on the same stage. But Wolf is running largely on his record, which has been in full public view for the past four years, and any public session with Wagner would be less a debate and more an opening for repeated attacks by the challenger.

According to a recent AP report, Wagner already is rolling out a claim that if Wolf is given a second term, he might propose another multibillion-dollar tax increase. Wolf could propose anything he wants, but the idea that he could force through massive tax increases, when Republicans hold clear majorities in both houses of the Legislature, is laughable. And Wagner knows this.

Wolf is comfortable running on his record, and on his plans to build on his achievements in a second term. Wagner, of course, is going to be in full attack mode, but he’ll have to do his damage with advertising.