Republican gubernatorial candidate Paul Mango is rebuffing state GOP Party Chairman Val DiGiorgio's call for him to pull his attack ad on party-endorsed opponent Scott Wagner.

No, he won't take it down, said Mango's campaign adviser Matt Beynon.

In fact, he said the campaign increased the ad buy Friday morning "due to the overwhelmingly positive response."

Mango and Wagner, along with GOP candidate Laura Ellsworth, are involved in a three-way contest for the Republican gubernatorial nomination in the May 15 primary. The winner will challenge incumbent Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in the fall.

Beynon went on: "Paul Mango warned Scott Wagner that if he didn't stop his false and misleading attack ads we would be forced to expose his long record of character flaws, disqualifying him as a serious candidate for governor. The fact that Party leaders like Chairman DiGiorgio never asked Wagner to pull his ads attacking Paul's campaign, but are now asking Paul Mango to remove his, reveals they are concerned about the voters and state committee members learning the full truth about Wagner's decades of embarrassing actions.

"If Scott Wagner's personal record cannot stand up to scrutiny during the Republican primary, clearly Wagner gives our party the worst chance of defeating Governor Wolf in the fall. This ad, like all of our ads, have included full documentation for the press and voters to see. We view the chairman's comments as encouragement that our message exposing Wagner's record as a Harrisburg insider with serious character flaws is resonating with voters."

Here is Mango's attack ad on Wagner followed by the one that Wagner ran that Mango asked him to take down.

Now Wagner's attack ad:

DiGiorgio issued a statement on Friday asking Mango to taken down the ads, saying he was surprised and disappointed "he would go to these depths to assail a fellow Republican."

He said it is time to rise above the personal attacks for the sake of the party.

"Personal attacks like this hurt our democratic process and will only serve to undermine the chances of achieving what must be our shared goal - defeating Tom Wolf, America's most liberal governor," DiGiorgio said.

Wagner told PennLive on Thursday that the ad is a sign of desperation due to internal polling that shows Mango's falling support.