Doherty Switches Races

Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty’s decision to drop out of the race for Governor of Pennsylvania leaves three declared Democrats in the field.
Doherty, who lagged far behind other candidates in fundraising efforts, says he’s ending his bid for governor.
Instead, the Democrat will run for the State Senate seat being vacated by Minority Leader Bob Mellow of Lackawanna County.
Doherty says he won’t endorse Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, Montgomery County Commissioner Joe Hoeffel or Auditor General Jack Wagner.

"I talked to the three – I talked to the candidates yesterday, and I just told them I wasn’t going to endorse anybody. I liked them all personally, we all got along real well, so I just thought, let the voters."

Doherty skirted the issue of whether he would have switched races if his gubernatorial bid had been going better.

"You know, this came out of nowhere. You look at it and say, wow I could really do a lot of good here. The other case is kind of hypothetical. What’s the degree of doing better, and the degree of more money. So I feel real good about doing this."

Doherty had focused his campaign on economic issues, touting the work he’s done as mayor. He says job creation will be the focus of his Senate run, as well.
Most recent polls have given Onorato a slight edge over the other primary candidates – but the majority of Democratic voters are still undecided.