Coatesville elects new City Council member, two DJ races appear settled
By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times
With a light voter turnout and a limited number of contested races, the county’s voters decided only a handful of races, with the vast majority heading to the general election in November.
But a few higher-profile races for District Justice appear to have been settled, with a single candidate winning the nominations of both Democrats and Republicans, and Coatesville elected a new City Council member Tuesday.
In the District 15-1-05 race, incumbent Grover Koon was able to hold off challengers Charles Ricky Campbell and Jacquelyn Carter, winning both primaries. Koon edged Campbell (233) and Carter (253) in the Democratic primary by getting 305 votes. In the GOP race, Koon edged Campbell by a 146-113 margin.
In the southern part of the county, incumbent district justice Matthew Seavey posted a narrow win over challenger Nicole Morley in both primaries. Seavey won the GOP nod 895-844, and won the Democratic nomination 444-377.
In the other highly fought race Jon Long won the Democratic nomination for District Justice in District 15-1-04 over Marian Thayer Vito, 245-193. Vito won the Republican nomination — she ran unopposed and the two will face off again in the fall. Long is seen has having a strong advantage in a district seen as strongly Democratic.
In a special election in Coatesville 4th Ward, Carmen Green defeated Bill Shaw 124-100 for a City Council seat. Shaw had been serving since being appointed earlier this year.
There were a number of hotly contested school board races — but few saw resolution, Tuesday.
In the Unionville-Chadds Ford Region C race (Victor Dupuis won Region A in both primaries, running unopposed and Robert Sage won Region B, running unopposed), in a razor thin race — only a handful of votes separated six candidates for three seats — all six candidates won a party nomination and will run in November. Republican incumbent Carolyn Daniels and newcomers Lorraine Ramunno and John P. Murphy won the GOP nod, while incumbent Democrats Kathleen Do and Gregg Lindner won the Democratic nomination — along with their “non-partisan” slate mate, former Republican Party area leader Beverly Brookes.
In the Coatesville Area School District Board of Education races, Michele Maffei won the Democratic nomination for Region III, while Tom Siedenbuehl won the GOP nod. Incumbent Greg Wynn won the Democratic nod for an unexpired two-year seat in Region III and Siedenbuehl won the GOP nod there as well. In Region I, Diane Brownfield won the GOP nod for one of two seats — although she was the lone candidate on the ballot, there were 51 write-in votes recorded. On the Democratic side, Bashera Grove and James Hills won the Democratic nomination and will be on the November ballot. In Region II, Ann Weurtz won both primaries in the race for two seats, and appears likely to win in November, while Republican Dean Snyder, the current board president, won only the GOP nomination. He will face Democrat Christopher Taylor in the fall election.
In the Kennett Consolidated School District races, Rudy Alfonso and Joseph Meola appeared to win both primaries in Region A, while Dominic Rerigo won both primaries for one of two seats in Region B. The second seat had no other candidates on the ballot, although a number of write-in votes were cast in both primaries, os it possible another candidate will emerge.
Races for seats on the Downingtown Area Board of Education were more definitive as five candidates ran unopposed in five regions. Jackie Penn won Region 1, Carl Croft won Region 3, Colleen Cranney won Region 5, Jane Bertone won Region 7 and Jaime Mehler won Region 9.
There were some interesting municipal primary races, but most were either one party or unopposed primaries. In East Marlborough Republican Christine Kimmel beat former supervisor Richard Hicks 33-129 for the GOP nod. 111 write-in votes were cast on the Democratic side, so it is unclear whether Hicks will run again as a Democrat as he did in 2013.
In Caln, Mary Coyne and Democratic incumbent Lorraine Tindaro won the Democratic nomination for Township Commissioner, while Republicans Jennifer Breton and George Chambers won the GOP nod.
In Kennett Township, Democrat Whitney Hoffman won her nomination and will face Republican Ted Moxon for Township Supervisor this fall.
In Pocopson, Elaine DiMonte won the GOP nomination for a six year term to replace retiring Supervisor Georgia Brutscher — and Democrats did not field a candidate, but 43 write in votes were cast. In a second race to fill an unexpired term, Incumbenr Barney Leonard won 114 votes, but 133 write in votes were cast, most presumably for challenger Alice Balsama — and there were 43 write ins on the Democratic side, so beyond DiMonte, it is unclear who will appear on the November ballot.
In New Garden, it appears the lone supervisor candidate on the ballot may have lost. Republican Christine Witherspoon got just 112 votes running for one of two seats, while write-ins, sparked by the campaign of David Unger and Randall Lieberman, got 499 votes. It is likely to duo also got the Democratic nomination, with no candidates listed, but 302 votes cast.
In Coatesville, it appears that incumbents Ed Simpson (R) and Villa Hunt (D) will be able to run unopposed for City Council. Council President Linda Lavender Norris’s fate is less clear. She won the GOP nod in the 5th Ward, but its unclear whether she will have an opponent after some 50 write-in votes were cast in the Democratic primary.
In Downingtown, Democrat Jeffrey Thomas edged Erica Deuso for the Democratic nod for Borough Council from the West Ward. No clear GOP candidate emerged, as there was no candidate on the ballot, but 43 write-in votes were cast. In the East Ward race, Democrats Phil Dague and Alex Rakoff ran unopposed, and again, there was no Republican candidate on the ballot, but some 91 votes were cast.
In the countywide races, Julia Malloy-Good and Allison Bell-Royer managed to both finish 1-2 in the Republican and Democratic primaries for Chester County Court of Common Pleas. Bell-Royer won just over 57% in the GOP primary, while Malloy-Good came in second, just edging Dan Maisano. Mallow-Good, a Democrat won her party’s primary with 63.8% of the vote, while Bell-Royer got 17.95%, Maisano got 11.69% and John Carnes got 7.04%. Malloy-Good and Bell-Royer will face this November for the seat on the county bench.
There were no other surprises in the county-wide races, with the both party’s endorsed candidates winning the nod for Commissioner and the row offices. Republicans Terence Farrell and Michelle Kichline will face Democrats Kathi Cozzone and Bill Scott this fall for Commissioner.
In row office races, incumbent Republican District Attorney Tom Hogan will face Democrat Tom Purl, while incumbent Sheriff Republican Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh will face Democrat James Bell. Matt Holliday won the GOP nod for Prothonotary, and will face Democrat Tisha Mae Brown, while incumbent Register of Wills Republican Terri Clark will face Democrat Lani Frank. Republican incumbent Republican Rick Loughery will face Democrat Hans Van Mol for Recordr of Deeds.
