Candidates • Patrick Fallon (Libertarian) • Vince Hatton • Tom Holloway (Reform) • Mark Freeman • Peg Luksik, director of an
anti-abortion organization (Constitution) • running mate: Jim Clymer, attorney •
Mark Singel, Lt. Governor (Democratic) • running mate:
Tom Foley, Pennsylvania Secretary of Labor and Industry •
Tom Ridge, U.S. Representative from
Erie (Republican) • running mate:
Mark Schweiker, Bucks County Commissioner
Campaign Prior to the election, Singel appeared to be a candidate who would be difficult to beat; he had gained wide name recognition and a positive job appraisal for his service as acting governor during
Bob Casey's battle with serious illness. In contrast, Ridge had been a relatively obscure Congressman who was mostly unknown outside of his
Erie base. Ridge proved to be a successful fundraiser and undercut support from Democrats in the socially liberal but fiscally conservative suburbs of
Philadelphia and
Pittsburgh. Abortion became a key issue in the campaign. Peg Luksik ran a strong third party campaign in opposition to the Republican nominations of the pro-choice Ridge and
Barbara Hafer in their most recent two gubernatorial campaigns. Singel, who is also pro-choice, gained only lukewarm support from his former boss Casey, a vocal critic of abortion policy. The tide began to turn against Singel after the revelation that he had voted to parole an individual named
Reginald McFadden, who would later be charged for a series of murders in
New York City. Ridge, whose campaign emphasized his "tough on crime" stance, took advantage of this situation, much in the manner that
George H. W. Bush had used the
Willie Horton incident against
Michael Dukakis. Singel was further undercut by a lack of Democratic enthusiasm; turnout was particularly low in strongholds such as Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and
Scranton.
Polling Results Results by county Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican == References ==