The Republican gubernatorial campaign went more negative this week with an attack ad against candidate Scott Wagner that one observer describes as the "most brutal" he's seen in 32 years.

The ad by Paul Mango's campaign shows a cartoon image of Sen. Scott Wagner and refers to him as a "slum lord," "Sleazy bail bondsmen" "Toxic Wagner" for environmental citations, "greedy," and a "deadbeat dad."

Wagner's campaign described this ad, which is airing statewide as "despicable" and telling of where Mango stands in the three-way GOP gubernatorial primary contest that also includes long-shot candidate Laura Ellsworth.

"Paul Mango is desperate, is losing and has no message of his own to run on," said Wagner spokesman Andrew Romeo. "He knows Scott is the true conservative candidate in this race, and because of that, he is resorting to smearing Scott's character rather than talking about his own record or policies. Scott will continue to focus on what this race is really all about, the people of Pennsylvania."

An adviser to Mango said Wagner was giving fair warning that such an ad might be coming after Wagner's campaign ran an ad attacking Mango, calling him an Obamacare advocate which he vehementally claims is untrue, an outsourcer of jobs, and "Wolf contractor," referring to a contract Mango's former employer had with Gov. Tom Wolf's administration.

"Paul made it clear that Senator Wagner either needed to pull his ads filled with lies or we would expose his true character," said Mango campaign adviser Laura Lebaudy. "Sadly, Senator Wagner continued his campaign of lies and distortions and left us no choice but to show the voters of Pennsylvania who Scott Wagner really is."

Longtime political observer G. Terry Madonna called the ad from Mango's camp the "most brutal" he has seen in his 32 years of monitoring Pennsylvania politics.

"The nature of the attacks are just beyond what you would expect from two people who, if elected, would follow very similar policy performances," said Madonna, a political science professor at Franklin & Marshall College. "This has degenerated into a highly personal primary in which it's no holds barred."

Mango's camp provides pages of annotations to back up their claims, several of which were raised during Wagner's senatorial campaigns in 2014. Wagner's camp said they are distortions of the facts.

Madonna finds it fascinating that the millions that both campaigns have spent on ads so far have mostly highlighted negatives of their primary opponent, with less focus on Democratic incumbent Gov. Tom Wolf, who the primary winner will face in the fall.

"You can imagine what's likely to happen when Governor Wolf takes on the winner with what these two have already said about each other," Madonna said.

Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokeswoman Beth Melena possibly offered a preview of those coming attractions in her statement about the Wagner-Mango attacks.

"Phony Paul Mango and Harrisburg insider Scott Wagner are in the midst of a Republican civil war over who would be the worst governor for Pennsylvania," Melena said. "Rather than focusing on the issues that matter most to Pennsylvanians like education, health care, and protecting our seniors, Republicans are focused on tearing each other apart."

A spokeswoman for Ellsworth's campaign said Ellsworth intends to stay out of the "negative back and forth and talk straight to the voters about the issues that matter." Ellsworth has not run any television ads yet but said recently she plans to do so when voters are more engaged as the May 15 primary draws closer.

The latest Franklin & Marshall College poll shows Wagner, the GOP endorsed candidate, had a slightly better chance of beating Wolf in the fall than Mango although about a quarter of the voters contacted remain undecided.

Moneywise, Wagner has the biggest pile of cash on hand among the GOP candidates going into the final six weeks of the primary campaign with $6.2 million at the end of March, according to campaign finance records filed with the Department of State. Mango has $3.2 million and Ellsworth, $434,000. But combined, they can't touch Wolf's warchest of $14.7 million of cash on hand.