A handful of incumbents bounced at municipal level; county slates set
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
Tuesday’s Primary election largely set up this November’s election slate — although in a handful of municipal races, incumbent supervisor candidates were knocked off their party’s ballot.
Turnout for the election was very light: just 10.45% of voters registered as Republican or Democrat turned out to the polls, according to figures released by Chester County Voter Services. Democratic turnout was particularly dismal, with just 9.79% of registered Democrats turning out, Tuesday.
In terms of the county-wide judicial and row-office races, both parties managed to hold serve and held off some aggressive write-in campaigns.
In the high-profile race for Court of Common Pleas, Republicans Jeff Sommer (34.51%) and Pat Carmody (42.99%) won the GOP nod, but Democrat Julia Malloy-Good garnered some 15.28% of the Republican vote. In the same race on the Democratic side, Democrats Malloy-Good (44.99%) and Tony Verwey (29.48%) won their party nomination, but Carmody posted strong numbers (17.24%) finishing third. In judicial and school board races, candidates can file for both party nominations.
The row office races were more cut and dried: Republicans Norm MacQueen (Controller), Ann Duke (Treasurer), Robin Marcello (Clerk of Courts) and Gordon Eck (Coroner) all got more than 99% of the vote in their primaries. Democrats Nina Haslip (Treasurer), Carmen Boyd (Controller), Tisha Brown (Clerk of Courts) and Howard Jones (Coroner) all got at least 98% of their respective party vote. The two slates will face off in November.
A hotly contested District Justice Race — in District 15-2-03 — will likely carry over to November as a race to watch. Incumbent William Kraut won the GOP nod, but was unable to hold off Chris Pielli for the Democratic nod, as both outdistanced third place finisher P.J. Redmond. Combining the two votes in the cross-filed race, Kraut got just 31 votes more than Pielli.
Elsewhere, there were only a handful of contested races, although a number of school board primaries will set up November election races.
In the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, there were no contested races. In Region A (East Marlborough/West Marlborough) incumbents Keith Knauss and Jeff Hellrung won both party nominations. In Region B (Pocopson, Newlin and Birmingham), newcomers Michael Rock and Steve Simonson both won in both party primaries without opposition for two open seats.
In municipal races, there were a handful of contested races.
In one of the most hotly contested supervisor races in the county, East Marlborough township incumbent Richard Hicks lost the GOP nomination to John Sarro, who won along with incumbent Richard Hannum. Hicks did run an aggressive write-in race on the Democratic side — and there were 96 votes cast as write-ins — so it is possible November will feature a rematch.
In the only other midly contested race in the Unionville area, Republican Matt Read won the GOP nomination for Pocopson supervisor while Holly Manzone won the Democratic nod. The two will face off in November seeking to replace retiring supervisor Steve Conary.
