HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — John Maher has won the Republican nomination for Pennsylvania auditor general.

The state representative from Allegheny County defeated Frank Pinto in Tuesday’s primary with 68 percent of the vote, based on returns from 54 percent of the state’s precincts.

Maher, 53, is a certified public accountant and founder of a Pittsburgh accounting firm.

Pinto, 67, is a retiree from Dauphin County who worked for the Pennsylvania state senate Republican staff and headed a bank lobbying group.

The auditor general is the state’s fiscal watchdog. The office has been held for the past eight years by Jack Wagner, a Democrat, who’s stepping down after serving the maximum two terms allowed by law.

Pennsylvania state representative Eugene DePasquale of York County was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

(Copyright 2012 by the Associated Press.  All rights reserved.)