HARRISBURG — Democratic gubernatorial nominee Tom Wolf’s plan to form a new organization to take over many of the campaign tasks now handled by the Democratic Party divided party leaders as they gathered Friday on the eve of their summer meeting.

Wolf, who won a four-way primary race with 58 percent of the vote, is organizing a state political-action committee called the “Campaign for a Fresh Start” that will be headed by ex-rival Katie McGinty.

Among its responsibilities will be communications, research, getting out the vote and coordinating with the legislative campaign committees.

Last week, Wolf named McGinty, a former state environmental protection secretary from the Philadelphia suburbs who came in fourth in the primary, as his choice for state party chairman. But incumbent chairman Jim Burn, a Pittsburgh lawyer, vowed to fight for another four-year term.

Behind-the-scenes efforts to persuade Burn to step down were unsuccessful, even as the Wolf campaign said it had the votes from state party committee members to win in a showdown vote.

“The state committee asked me to stay in February. They asked me to stay now. I serve them and I said ‘yes,”’ Burn, who was elected chairman in 2010, said in a written statement.

Wolf said he will not attend Saturday’s Democratic State Committee meeting in suburban Harrisburg, and former Gov. Ed Rendell, who briefly employed Wolf in his cabinet, issued a withering assessment of the state party’s stance.