Gov. Wolf names Isenhour to succeed chief of staff McGinty

Today, Governor Tom Wolf named Mary Isenhour Chief of Staff following the announcement that Katie McGinty had stepped down effective July 23.

It looks like Joe Sestak is getting a big-name challenge in his bid for a rematch against U.S. Sen. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because McGinty hasn’t made the announcement herself. But she finished a distant fourth place in the four-way Democratic primary behind Wolf. The spokesman, Jeff Sheridan, said McGinty did not give the governor a reason for resigning. She also was being recruited by Emily’s List, a Democratic group backing female candidates who support abortion rights.

Isenhour served as a national political director for the Washington, D.C.-based Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, and from 1999 to 2003, she served as executive director of the Pennsylvania House Democratic Campaign Committee.

Unlike the other two Democratic contenders, former Treasurer Rob McCord and former U.S. Rep. Allyson Schwartz, she refrained from attacking Mr. Wolf throughout the campaign. She then was executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party and state director for Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. “Katie’s work has help lay the course for my administration, and I greatly appreciate her efforts to fix our schools, create jobs, and build a better Pennsylvania”. Mr. Wolf easily defeated former Gov. Tom Corbett, but the GOP increased its majorities in both legislative chambers.

Toomey narrowly beat Sestak in the 2010 midterm election after Sestak thumped the longtime incumbent, Republican-turned-Democrat Arlen Specter, in the primary.

Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro had also considered the Senate race but decided against it. Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who had his own short-lived campaign for governor in 2014, announced a Senate bid this spring but “suspended” the campaign in the face of an FBI investigation into his city administration’s finances.