Allentown council president Daryl Hendricks loses reelection in tight race
Allentown council president Daryl Hendricks lost his bid for reelection on Tuesday and will not appear on the November ballot. Two newcomers, Jeremy Binder and Cristian Pungo, tallied more votes in the Democratic primary race than the three-term incumbent.
There are four seats open on council. Current council members Cynthia Mota and Natalie Santos also won. No Republicans were running for council.
Pungo had a slim, 25-vote lead over current council president Daryl Hendricks for the fourth spot, unofficial results show. He is a first-generation Latino-American who was born and grew up in Allentown. The 2020 Temple University graduate works in construction management at Alvin H. Butz Inc.
Pungo told Armchair Lehigh Valley last month that the current council has spent too much time on personal conflicts and not enough on issues that matter to residents.
Mota, the current council vice president, had the most votes. She has served on the council since 2012. She is the CEO of Centro Multiservices, which assists with immigration and officiates weddings, according to her council bio.
Binder was in second place. He is an Allentown native who owns Concentric Solutions, a security consulting company. His priorities on council will be addressing concerns about safe and clean neighborhoods, quality of life, jobs and taxes.
Santos was elected to the council in 2021 and was the youngest person to ever win a seat. She has described herself as “a consistent progressive voice” on the city council and said she was inspired to run by the Black Lives Matter movement. She is an insurance agent for ADP.
Hendricks was running for his fourth term on council, but failed to win another. He retired as a captain of the Allentown Police Department after serving for 38 years.
One major change to council next year will be the absence of Ed Zucal, who ran an unsuccessful campaign for mayor to unseat incumbent Matt Tuerk in the Democratic primary. He waged a write-in campaign for the Republican nomination. Results were unavailable this morning.
The unofficial results are:
Cynthia Mota – 3,352
Jeremy Binder – 3,252
Natalie Santos – 2,955
Cristian Pungo – 2,610
Daryl Hendricks – 2,585
Patrick Palmer – 2,465
Ben Stemrich – 2,268