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Competitive commissioner races add intrigue to Washington, Greene primary elections

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Today’s primary election is expected to generate higher than usual turnout for an off-year primary thanks to the number of competitive races for commissioner and courthouse row office positions.

Decisions by both Washington County Commission Chairwoman Diana Irey Vaughan and Greene County Commission Chairman Mike Belding not to run for reelection have multiple candidates on the ballot in both the Republican and Democratic primaries hoping to succeed them.

Six Republicans are running in the Washington County primary for commissioners, while nearly every row office on the Republican side of the ballot is competitive. Washington County Elections Director Melanie Ostrander said she thinks that will lead to a higher in-person participation rate that could boost overall turnout to more than one-third of the electorate for the primary. In comparison, there was a 27% turnout in 2019, the last time the board of commissioners was on the ballot.

“I think because of the competitive commissioners race, that we’ll see a high turnout in person from Republican voters,” Ostrander said. “The commissioners race (on the Republican ballot) is going to be the attraction, here.”

The Republican candidates running for two nominations for commissioner are Bruce Bandel of Amwell Township, Ashley Duff of Fallowfield Township, Electra Janis of Peters Township, Kevin Redford of North Strabane Township, Nick Sherman of North Strabane Township and Sonia Stopperich Sulc of Canonsburg Borough.

Adding to the intrigue for the GOP, four row office positions currently held by Republican incumbents will have challengers in the primary. Coroner Tim Warco will face challenger Marc Zmijowski, Clerk of Courts Brenda Davis is being challenged by Ray Phillips, Prothonotary Laura Hough is facing off against Kevin Hill, and Register of Wills James Roman is going up against Christina Wiles Thomas. Fellow Republican incumbents District Attorney Jason Walsh and Treasurer Tom Flickinger are running unopposed in the primary.

The Democratic races aren’t quite as competitive with only three candidates – Randy Barli of Coal Center Borough, Larry Maggi of Buffalo Township and Cindy Fisher of Cecil Township – running for two nominations for Washington County commissioner. Meanwhile, there is no competition for row office nominations on the Democratic side of the ballot for this primary, but there will still be competitive races in five out of the six row offices in the fall. Christina DeMarco Breeden is running for district attorney, Joe Manning will be a candidate for treasurer, Bobby Dellorso is running for clerk of courts, Sandy Sabot will be on the ballot for prothonotary and Alex Taylor will be running for register of wills, while no Democratic candidate is running for coroner.

Ostrander said her office sent out 12,331 mail-in ballots for the primary, with Democrats overwhelmingly requesting them by a 3-to-1 ratio compared to Republicans.

In Greene County, it’s more of a mixed bag with competitive races. Cameron Downer, Jared Edgreen, Larry Freeman and Betsy Rohanna McClure are running in the Republican primary for Greene County commissioners, while Christine Bailey, Michael Holloway Jr. and Blair Zimmerman are running on the Democratic side.

There are also a couple of county row office races that are competitive in the primary. District Attorney David Russo is being challenged in the Republican primary by Brianna Vanata, although no Democrats have filed to run. Jeannie High-Grimes and Julie Gatrell are running in the Republican primary for treasurer, while no Democrats are registered to run this year, including incumbent Cory Grandel, who is not running for reelection.

In the race to replace longtime incumbent Susan White after she retires at the end of her term, Paul Ondash is running unopposed in the Democratic primary while Jennifer Maas is running on the Republican side. Register & Recorder Donna J. Tharp is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, but is expected to face Republican challenger Tammy Brookover in the general election.

Crystal D. Walters is running unopposed in the Republican primary for Clerk of Courts, while no Democrats are registered to be on the ballot after Sherry Wise announced she was retiring as Clerk of Courts after serving three terms. Controller Ami Cree is running for reelection unopposed in the Democratic primary and does not currently have a Republican challenger in the general election.

There are competitive magisterial district judge races in the two seats up for election this year. District Judge Dave Balint is running for reelection and will face challenger Lesli Joy Gordon in the primary for the district that includes central and western Greene County. Meanwhile, Tom Ankrom, Charlie Jones and Kelly A. Stepp are running to replace retiring District Judge Glenn Bates, who currently oversees the communities in central and northeastern Greene County.

All but Jones have cross-filed and will appear on both the Democratic and Republican tickets. Jones will only appear on the Republican ballot.

Greene County Elections Director Jason Mihal, who started in the position in January, said Monday he could not predict what kind of turnout the county will see today. The Greene County elections staff had sent out about 1,700 mail-in ballots out as of last week, although the breakdown of Democratic and Republican requests was not released.

In addition the county races, there will also be various municipal, school board and statewide judicial races on the ballot for today’s primary. The polls are open across Pennsylvania from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today, and all mail-in ballots must be returned to their county elections office by 8 p.m. or they won’t be included in the vote total.

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