County, municipal and school board races highlight full ballot for Nov. 7 election
With Labor Day being the traditional start of the fall election season, it’s time to highlight contests Lehigh Valley voters will decide on Nov. 7.
Ballots feature countywide competitions in Lehigh and Northampton, a city council race in Bethlehem, key municipal elections in townships and boroughs and spirited battles for school boards. Additionally, Northampton County, Allentown and Lower Saucon voters will weigh in on ballot questions.
Despite critical local contests that help determine backyard issues such as property taxes and direction of county and municipal governments and school boards, voter turnout in such off-year elections is lower when compared to high-profile federal and state elections.
In the last local election two years ago, voter turnout was 30.9% in Lehigh County and 32.5% in Northampton. By comparison, turnout for the 2022 election featuring races for federal and state offices was 58.7% in Lehigh and 58.4% in Northampton.
“Local governments provide us with all of our front-door, life-and-death services, from police and fire protection to water, gas, electricity, streets, and code compliance,” said John Kincaid, a government and public service professor at Lafayette College in Easton, where he also serves as director of the Meyner Center for the Study of State and Local Government.
“So it's important to vote in local elections in order to keep local officials responsive and accountable. And with all the controversies surrounding K-12 education today, it's really important to vote in school board elections,” he said.
Indeed, interest in school board elections, from districts such as Parkland and East Penn to Nazareth Area and Bethlehem Area, increased this year throughout the Lehigh Valley. Several races feature a mix of competing candidate slates, political action committee spending and endorsements from groups, including the Northampton County chapter of Moms for Liberty.
In previous elections, school board matters typically involved taxes and school construction.
But school issues, pushed into the forefront by Moms for Liberty and other conservative groups, now include exercising parental rights by scrutinizing which books are used in class and school libraries, examining how history is taught and weighing in on gender issues.
In Parkland, four PACs emerge in school board race (substack.com)
In addition to local races, the top of this year’s ballot features state judicial contests: one seat each on the state Supreme and Commonwealth courts, and two seats on Superior Court.
The election could change the balance only on the Superior Court, where Democrats hold a 7-6 advantage if Republicans won both positions. The Supreme Court, with a 5-3 Democratic majority, and the Commonwealth Court, with a 5-3 Republican majority, would not change regardless of who is elected to each court.
Also two Superior Court justices, including Judge Jack Panella whose son Brian is seeking a seat in Northampton County Court, are up for retention votes to serve another 10 years.
Lehigh County
The election for Lehigh County commissioners will determine which party holds a majority on the nine-member board.
Democrats hold a 6-3 edge, but three Democratic incumbents – Bob Elbich, Dave Harrington and Zakiya Smalls – did not seek reelection, creating an opportunity for Republicans to gain control if they capture at least one of the four at-large seats in the election. Winners will serve a four-year term.
The Democrats who emerged from a seven-candidate primary battle are incumbent Dan Hartzell, Sheila Alvarado, April Riddick and Jon Irons. The four Republican candidates were unopposed in their primary: Jacqueline Rivera, Rita Sisselberger, Gary S. Fedorcha and Paul Moat.
In the row offices, all of which are for four-year terms:
Democratic incumbent Controller Mark Pinsley, who is seeking reelection to a second term, and Republican Robert E. Smith Jr. will face each other.
Democrat Daniel Buglio, who was appointed interim coroner in April 2022 after Eric Minnich resigned from the post, will run against Republican Joseph Zitarelli.
Three other candidates were unopposed in their primaries: Republican Gavin Holihan, first assistant district attorney, also won the Democratic nomination via a write-in campaign, is virtually assured to succeed Jim Martin, who did not seek reelection after 25 years; Sheriff Joe Hanna, a Republican who also won the Democratic nomination via a write-in effort, is seeking a third term; Democrat Michelle Graupner, a clerk in the judicial records office, is running for clerk of judicial records to replace Andrea Naugle, who is retiring.
All District magistrate races were decided in the primary except for one – magisterial district 31-3-02. Incumbent District Judge Michael J. Faulkner, a Republican, and Julie Tamerler, a Democrat, each of whom cross-filed in the primary, will face each other again in November. Faulkner won the Republican primary and Tamerler, the Democratic primary. The district comprises Alburtis and Lower and Upper Macungie townships.
County voters will also decide whether Judge J. Brian Johnson should serve a third 10-year term on Lehigh County Court. Johnson, a Republican, is president judge of the county court.
Northampton County
The top race will determine whether Nancy Aaroe or Brian Panella will serve as the county’s newest judge.
The pair faced each other in the primary because judicial candidates can run on the Democratic and Republican ballots. Panella, a Democrat, won his party’s nomination with 57% of the vote (13,145 to 10,005), while Aaroe, a Republican, won the GOP nod with 70% of the vote (10,950 to 4,730).
The winner will serve a 10-year term and bring the number of county judges to its full complement of nine.
Panella outspends Aaroe 2-1 in Norco judge primary (substack.com)
Nancy Aaroe, Brian Panella vie for seat on Northampton County Court (substack.com)
It appeared the district attorney contest in November would also be a rematch from the May primary. Stephen Baratta defeated incumbent Terry Houck to gain the Democratic nomination with 54% of the vote, but Houck succeeded in getting on the ballot as a write-in candidate in the Republican primary.
However in August, Houck cited the high cost of mounting an election campaign in withdrawing from the race. That leaves the path open for Baratta, who retired as a county judge last year to run for DA, to have no opposition in November in seeking a four-year term as the county’s top law enforcement official.
Houck bows out of Norco DA’s race (substack.com)
Baratta, Houck each spent about $60,000 in final weeks of Norco DA primary campaign (substack.com)
Control of Northampton County Council will also be decided in November.
Republicans hold a 5-4 edge, which it gained in the spring when council President Kerry Meyers, a Democrat, switched to the Republican Party after getting knocked off the Democratic ballot because of insufficient valid signatures on his nominating petitions. Meyers attempted a write-in campaign for the GOP nomination for his District II council seat but fell short of the required 250 votes to win the nomination.
That leaves Kerry Keegan, who won the Democratic nomination for District II, unopposed in November. Republican incumbent Commissioner Tom Giovanni, who represents District IV, is also unopposed in the election.
Two of the remaining regional council seats with contested races are in:
District I, where Democrat Ken Kraft will face Republican William R. Rowe, who waged a successful write-in campaign to win the GOP primary. Kraft is seeking to return to the position he previously held for six years until 2018, when he resigned after being hired as deputy director for the county corrections department. Kevin Lott, who was appointed to fill the rest of Kraft’s term and won election to a four-year term in 2019, did not seek reelection. Kraft retired from his county job in February, making him eligible to run for county commissioner.
District III, where Democrat Jeff Warren will oppose Republican Casey Foreman. Incumbent county Commissioner John Cusick, a Republican, did not seek reelection as he is running this year instead for county controller.
Cusick’s opponent for county controller is Democrat Tara Zrinski, an at-large member of county council who last year lost a primary election for state senator from the 16th District. In the May Democratic primary for controller, Zrinski polled 60% of the vote to gain the nomination over Nadeem Qayyum.
Voters will consider ballot questions to amend the Northampton County Home Rule Charter to restrict the county executive and county controller to two consecutive four-year terms while council members would be limited to three consecutive four-year terms. If approved, term limits for the controller and council would begin in 2024 while the executive’s would start in 2026.
Voters will also decide whether to retain Judge Jennifer R. Sletvold for a second, 10-year term. Sletvold, a Republican, was elected to the county court in 2013.
Bethlehem City Council
At least two new members will join city council, as the only incumbent seeking reelection to a four-year term is Democrat Michael Colon. Two Democratic incumbents, Paige Van Wirt and Wandalyn Enix, did not seek reelection. The other two Democrats on the ballot are Colleen Laird and former council member Bryan Callahan.
Republicans who will seek to break the Democratic stronghold on city council are Devin Brunges, Thomas Ginthner and James Follweiler, who gained the GOP nomination via a successful write-in campaign.
Allentown and Easton
Contests for Allentown City Council and Easton mayor and city council were essentially decided in the primary.
Incumbents Allentown council members Ce-Ce Gerlach, Santo Napoli and Candida Affa won the Democratic primary; no Republicans ran in the primary.
However, Allentown city voters will have two ballot questions to consider:
One would increase the salary of city council members to $15,000, with the council president receiving $16,000. Council members presently receive $6,400.
The second would increase the salary of the controller to an amount that is 80% of the mayor’s salary, which is presently $95,000. At that rate, the controller’s salary would be $76,000. The position’s salary is now $49,900.
Controller Jeff Glazier, a Democrat, is unopposed for reelection for a four-year term in November. City Council appointed Glazier, then a city council member, to the job in 2016 when Mary Ellen Koval, who resigned. He then won elections in 2017 to complete the final two years of her term and then in 2019 for a full, four-year term.
A third referendum for Allentown was rejected last month by the Lehigh County Election Board, The Morning Call reported. Proposed by the Working Families Party, the proposal would have allocated nearly $4.1 million for a pilot program to dispatch a paramedic and mental health expert, rather than police, to respond to nonviolent emergencies such as people experiencing mental health crises or drug overdoses. The city administration raised potential legal problems with the program. A Working Families representative said the group could appeal the Election Board decision.
In Easton, Democratic Mayor Sal Panto Jr. easily won his party’s nomination over Peter Melan. He is unopposed in November. In the Democratic primary for three at-large seats on city council, Frank Pintabone, incumbent Kenneth Brow and Crystal Rose won their party’s nominations. They are also unopposed in November.
Townships and boroughs
Contested elections will occur in boroughs throughout the Lehigh Valley, including Catasauqua, Slatington, Emmaus, Tatamy and Freemansburg and in such townships as Hanover (Northampton County), Palmer, Forks, Upper Macungie and Upper Saucon.
Some township contests include:
In Whitehall, voters will choose a new mayor. Democrat Joseph J. Marx Jr., president of the township commissioners, will face Republican Tina Jo Koren, the township’s elected tax collector/treasurer. Mayor Michael Harakal Jr. decided to seek reelection but dropped out of the primary in March. Two months before, in January, he received a vote of no confidence from township commissioners after the township paid $140,000 to settle alleged harassment complaints against him, The Morning Call reported. Voters will also elect four people from a field of six candidates for township commissioners.
Expansion of the Bethlehem Landfill and a decision to end a relationship with the Hellertown Public library are key issues driving this year’s election for Lower Saucon Township Council. Three seats for four-year terms are at stake in the election. Republican candidates are incumbents Sandra Yerger and Mark Inglis as well as Susan Blair. Democratic candidates are incumbent Priscilla deLeon and Victoria Opthof-Cordaro and Laura Ray. Lower Saucon voters will also decide whether to set a limit of being elected to two consecutive terms for council members, effective Jan. 5, 2026.
Voter registration
Democratic voters continue to outnumber Republican voters in Lehigh and Northampton counties, but Republicans and people who don’t affiliate with either party or a minor party gained slightly in each county since the May primary, according to state voter registration data as of Aug. 28.
In Lehigh County, total registration increased by 463 to 240,804. The breakdown: Democrat, 111,751 (a loss of 219); Republican, 83,531 (plus 184), no affiliation/minor parties, 45,522 (plus 498).
In Northampton County, total registration increased by 227 to 217,876. The breakdown: Democrat, 95,602 (a loss of 189), Republican, 80,074 (plus 146), no affiliation/minor parties, 42,200 (plus 270).
The deadline to register to vote in the November election is Oct. 23. The last day to apply for a mail-in or civilian absentee ballot for the election is Oct. 31.
Editor’s note: This story was corrected to reflect the split on the Lehigh County Board of Commissioners as 6-3 in favor of Demcorats. Also, Julie Tamerler, a judge candidate for magistrate district 31-3-02, is a Democrat.