In Easton, two Democratic incumbent city council members lost in the primary, according to unofficial Northampton County results.
In District 1, Frank Graziano III, a member of the city planning commission, tallied 536 votes to four-term incumbent Roger Ruggles’ 367. The district includes Easton’s Fourth Ward, College Hill and downtown.
In District 3, Easton Area School Board member Susan Hartranft-Bittinger defeated Taiba Sultana, who was seeking reelection to a second four-year term, 403 to 281. The district covers Easton’s Southside.
No Republicans were on the ballot in either district.
District 2, which covers most of the West Ward, has a vacancy because Councilman Jim Edinger did not run for reelection. There was no primary contest, however, as Democrat Julie Zando-Dennis and Republican Sharbel Koorie were unopposed and will face each other in November.
City council has seven elected members: Mayor Sal Panto Jr., and at-large members Ken Brown, Frank Pintabone and Crystal Rose, who are not up for reelection this year.
In Bethlehem, two city council members along with two newcomers gained their party nominations Tuesday, according to unofficial returns from Northampton and Lehigh counties.
Winning four of the nominations out of a six-candidate field were incumbents seeking their second, four-year term and top vote-getters Rachel Leon (4,425) and Hillary Kwiatek (4,247), followed by Justin Amann (4,061) and Jo Daniels (3,283). Missing out on the nominations were Tina Cantelmi, who finished a close fifth (3,198) and Celeste Dee (2,781).
Joseph F. Poplawski was the only Republican on the GOP ballot and will be among the five candidates seeking four seats on council in November.
Two positions on council opened up when incumbents Kiera Wilhelm and Grace Crampsie Smith did not seek reelection. Crampsie Smith, who ran for mayor instead, lost the Democratic primary to Mayor J. William Reynolds.
Kwiatek was not affected by PA Local Leaders Fund PAC spending nearly $13,000 on opposition mailers targeting her and Reynolds partly for their support of a 2.6% property tax hike in 2024. The opposition mailers were first reported by The Morning Call.
The PAC raised $33,400 between April 1 and May 5, according to its campaign finance report filed with the state. Major contributors included Raymond Lahoud, a lawyer from Upper Saucon ($25,000), city Councilman Bryan Callahan ($5,000) and his campaign committee, Friends of Bryan Callahan ($2,000).