Wednesday night’s debate between Republican Party endorsed Senator Scott Wagner, healthcare executive Paul Mango, and lawyer Laura Ellsworth may have been able to change the minds of local Republicans. 

WTAJ invited a group of Republicans to share their thoughts on the debate and to see if it changed their minds.

“Mango showed himself as a real conservative. Really fighting for values and liberty and freedom. But then comes Laura,” said Trisha Haight. “She was really well informed, I had really not considered Laura until this debate.” 

The majority of Republicans we sat down with agreed Ellsworth stood out.

“I was very impressed with Laura Ellsworth, I think she really took the other candidates to task. She seemed very passionate and sincere about everything,” said Terry Figart.

Despite some contentious back and forth between Mango and Wagner, they appear to be front runners. 

“Just watching Laura Ellsworth, I could be happy, content with her being Governor but I think Scott Wagner has a better chance against Tom Wolf in the fall,” said Donald Bowers.

“You’re always going to have corruption in Harrisburg, that’s never going to go away. But if you care about the life of babies, if you care about your religious freedom, who stands out is Mango,” said Haight.

Julie Malone took note when Mango asked Wagner the seven steps of a zero-based budget.

“Scott Wagner kind of stumbled on that and he’s been touting that for at least a year. And if you can’t explain it, why are you supporting it?”, she said. 

But one thing these republicans say they’re looking for is someone who prove they can make changes in Harrisburg. 

“A candidate needs to come and say what they’ve done in the past, not what they’re going to do when they’re elected, they always make promises they can never produce those promises,” said Bowers.