Allentown mayor ends campaign, leaving 7 Dems in Pa. gubernatorial race

The mayor of Allentown has ended his quest to be Pennsylvania’s next governor. The decision came down to money, Ed Pawlowski said Monday.

While he knew when he entered the gubernatorial race in September that the field would be crowded, he said he never anticipated the leading candidates would be raising more than $27 million between them in 2013.

Pawlowski said he hopes his exodus is a cue to other Democratic candidates.

“I would hope that folks would start galvanizing behind a single candidate,” he said. “The last thing we need in the Democratic Party is to beat ourselves up in the primary and spend a lot of money that could be used to take back the governor’s office come November.”

Pawlowski is supporting state Treasurer Rob McCord, though that hasn’t ruled out a bid for lieutenant governor.

A now seven-way race for the Democratic Party’s nomination remains to determine who will face incumbent Republican Gov. Tom Corbett in the November election.

In addition to McCord, contenders are U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, former DEP Secretaries John Hanger and Katie McGinty, York County businessman Tom Wolf, Cumberland County minister Max Myers, and Lebanon County Commissioner JoEllen Litz.