Scott R. Wagner (born September 21, 1955) is an American businessman and politician from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He represented the 28th district in the Pennsylvania State Senate. He was the Republican nominee for Governor of Pennsylvania in the 2018 election, losing by more than 800,000 votes to incumbent Democrat Tom Wolf. Early life and education Wagner is from Spring Garden Township in York County, Pennsylvania. He was raised on a farm. Wagner graduated from Dallastown Area High School in 1973. He then spent one semester at Williamsport Area Community College (now Pennsylvania College of Technology), but left school to pursue business ventures. Business career Wagner bought his first plot of land for $8,500 at age 19, selling it two years later for a $4,000 profit. He then had several successful business ventures including a laundromat and ski shop, as well as buying a number of rental buildings. He also worked as a bail bondsman. In 1985, Wagner co-founded the waste management company York Waste Disposal, a company which made $40 million a year, and which he sold in 1997. He then started Penn Waste in 2000, a company with 400 employees in 2018. The company 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 (his company picks up garbage from 180,000 homes). In December 2019, Wagner sold Penn Waste to the Canadian company Waste Connections. Wagner also owns three other companies, including a trucking company called KBS Trucking. Political career Pennsylvania Senate (2014–2018) 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, Wagner charged the Republican Party with cronyism. 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 Wagner chose to run in the special election as a write-in candidate against Miller and Linda Small, the Democratic Party nominee. Wagner ran on a fiscal conservative platform. He 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 the election, Wagner received 10,595 votes (47.7%), Miller received