HARRISBURG -- A state judge is ordering a candidate off May's primary ballot for lieutenant governor because he won't meet the state's constitutional age threshold of 30.

Joe Gale

Joe Gale suggested that he planned to appeal Tuesday's ruling by Commonwealth Court Judge Kevin Brobson to the state's high court.

Gale, a Montgomery County commissioner, was seeking the Republican Party's nomination, even though the 28-year-old Gale won't meet the state's constitutional age threshold of 30 when the next lieutenant governor is sworn in in January 2019.

Gale couldn't serve until March 2019, when he turns 30. Gale argued that the Pennsylvania Constitution would allow the Senate president pro tempore to fill the job until he's old enough.

But Brobson ruled that court precedent says candidates must be qualified at the time of election.

Gale is one of a field of candidates that includes former state Rep. Gordon Denlinger of Lancaster County; suburban Philadelphia real estate investor Jeffrey Bartos; and Otto Voit, a Berks County businessman who ran for state treasurer in 2016.

Five Democrats have lined up to contest the re-election bid of Lt. Gov. Mike Stack in the party's primary. Those include the following: