Democrats are now looking toward the gubernatorial election after state Rep. Scott Conklin was declared the winner of the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor, as runner-up Jonathan Saidel declined a recount.

Conklin’s victory came after Saidel – who trailed Conklin by 3,846 votes – decided to not request a recount. His decision saved the state over $500,000, according to a press release from the Governor’s office.

“I salute Jonathan Saidel for making this difficult decision in order to save Pennsylvania’s taxpayers a substantial amount of money,” Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro A. Cortas said in the release. “During these historically challenging financial times, every dollar is important to the continuation of programs that serve the public. I thank Mr. Saidel for putting our residents’ interests ahead of his own aspirations.”

The 3,846 vote lead held by Conklin was less than one half of one percent of the total votes cast, a narrow margin that would require an automatic recount if Saidel had not conceded.

Conklin, D-Centre, will join gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato on the Democratic ticket in November as they go against Republican candidates Tom Corbett and Jim Crawley.

Tor Michaels, Conklin campaign spokesperson, said the Conklin campaign is looking forward to working with Onorato in the months leading up to the election in the fall.

“Dan is an excellent candidate and he has great ideas to move our state forward,” Michaels said. “We’re very excited for the opportunity to work with him.”

Dustin Dove, College Democrats chief of staff, said the addition of Conklin to the Democratic ticket would provide a different “flavor” to the campaign for Democrats in November.

“In the fall we’ll have our senate candidate (Sestak) from the eastern part of the state, our governor candidate (Onorato) from the Pittsburgh area and Scott is from the rural area of State College,” Dove (senior-secondary education) said. “I think he brings a lot of balance to the ticket.”