40 Facts About Scott Wagner

Scott R Wagner was born on September 21,1955 and is an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Scott Wagner represented the 28th district in the Pennsylvania State Senate.

Scott Wagner was the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania in the 2018 election, losing by more than 800,000 votes to incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf.

Scott Wagner then spent one semester at Williamsport Area Community College, but left school to pursue business ventures.

Scott Wagner bought his first plot of land for $8,500 at age 19, selling it two years later for a $4,000 profit.

Scott Wagner then had several successful business ventures including a laundromat and ski shop, as well as buying a number of rental buildings.

In 1985, Scott Wagner co-founded the waste management company York Waste Disposal, a company which made $40 million a year, and which he sold in 1997.

Scott Wagner then started Penn Waste in 2000, a company with 400 employees in 2018.

Scott Wagner has received over 30 violations and citations from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection over sixteen years, which Wagner claims have been unfair and overreaching.

In December 2019, Scott Wagner sold Penn Waste to the Canadian company Waste Connections.

Scott Wagner owns three other companies, including a trucking company called KBS Trucking.

Scott Wagner ran in a March 2014 special election for the 28th district in the Pennsylvania Senate.

When Ron Miller, an incumbent member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, declared his intentions to run for the seat, Scott Wagner charged the Republican Party with cronyism.

Scott Wagner withdrew his name from consideration, but remained a candidate for the regularly scheduled primary election in May 2014.

The York County Republicans selected Miller as their nominee, and Scott Wagner chose to run in the special election as a write-in candidate against Miller and Linda Small, the Democratic Party nominee.

Scott Wagner ran as an outsider, accusing party leaders of rigging the system against him, and became the first write-in candidate to win election to the Pennsylvania State Senate in history.

In office, Scott Wagner moved the General Assembly in a more fiscally conservative direction.

Scott Wagner led efforts to replace Republican Dominic F Pileggi as Senate majority leader and to install plaques under the Capitol portraits of Senate and House leaders with criminal convictions.

Scott Wagner inaccurately asserted in March 2017 that climate change is the result of Earth moving closer to the Sun and from greater body heat emanating from a greater number of humans; this debunked claim is contrary to the scientific consensus on climate change.

In December 2017, Scott Wagner voted in favor of a bill in the state legislature that would ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Scott Wagner later came out in support of a US House bill that would ban abortion as soon as the fetus has a heartbeat.

Scott Wagner has cosponsored bills that would prevent the use of state funds for non-abortion services, such as birth control and cancer screening, at Planned Parenthood.

Scott Wagner has been critical of labor unions, and has stated that he supports right-to-work legislation.

Scott Wagner resigned from the Senate in June 2018 after winning the Republican nomination for governor.

Scott Wagner ran as a Republican candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania in the 2018 election, challenging Democratic incumbent governor Tom Wolf; Scott Wagner became the Republican nominee after winning the primary on May 15,2018.

Scott Wagner contracted Red Mavericks, a media, strategy and fundraising firm led by Harrisburg political operative and lobbyist Ray Zaborney, after having previously decried the use of political consultants.

Scott Wagner resigned from the state senate on June 4,2018, to focus on his gubernatorial campaign.

Scott Wagner originally called for debates in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.

Scott Wagner called Wolf a "chicken" for not having more debates.

Scott Wagner said that he would roll back Wolf's Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act.

Scott Wagner pledged to eliminating property taxes, including school taxes, statewide, and adopting zero-based budgeting.

Scott Wagner supported leasing Pennsylvania's wholesale liquor industry and privatizing the sale of alcohol, using $500 million in projected savings for education programs.

Scott Wagner expressed support for "clear sentencing and bail guidelines" but did not endorse the elimination of cash bail.

Scott Wagner pledged to reverse Wolf's moratorium on the death penalty, supporting restoration of capital punishment in Pennsylvania.

Scott Wagner proposed the creation of a fund to extent loans to people, especially those in poor communities, to open new businesses; he criticized the state's existing public assistance programs.

Scott Wagner responded by calling the student "young and naive" and said that Pennsylvanians are trying to elect a governor, not a scientist.

Scott Wagner spent more than $23 million on his primary campaign and $22 million on his general election campaign.

Scott Wagner self-funded most of his campaign, and was his own largest contributor.

Scott Wagner has compared himself to Trump, and similarities of style have been commented upon by others.

Scott Wagner had a leadership role the Never Back Down Super PAC which supported Ron DeSantis' campaign in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries.