The November race for a new seat on the Lehigh County Court of Common Pleas will be between Democrat Mark Stanziola and Republican Patricia Fuentes Mulqueen.
Stanziola, an attorney with the Allentown law firm Fitzpatrick Lentz and Bubba, topped the Democratic ballot in Tuesday’s primary election with 11,584 votes, according to unofficial results with 160 of 161 precincts described as partially reported.
Mulqueen, chief of prosecutions in the Lehigh County District Attorney's Office, won the Republican nomination with 9,106 votes.
Stanziola faced Mulqueen and Republican Jenna Fliszar, both of whom cross-filed, for the Democratic nomination. Mulqueen had 8,261 votes as of midnight while Fliszar had 3,888 votes.
The race for the Republican nomination was between Mulqueen and Fliszar, who tallied 5,630 votes. Stanziola did not cross-file.
The judicial seat is being created to handle an increase in caseload.
Stanziola’s win comes as his campaign expense report listed $978 in expenditures as of May 5.
Mulqueen tallied $29,167 in expenditures and had loaned her campaign $25,000. Fliszar’s campaign spent $38,574. She had received $35,059 worth of in-kind contributions, the bulk of which came from her husband Gred Ludell for yard signs, postage mailers, T-shirts and radio spots. Ludell then gave the campaign $24,919 on May 8.
Stanziola has specialized primarily in family law, including divorce, custody, adoption and support. Over his 37-year law career he has also worked on criminal cases, landlord/tenant disputes, personal injury and other litigation.
Mulqueen previously worked as a Northampton County assistant district attorney, spending the majority of the time as chief of the Violent Crime Unit. She ran unsuccessfully for judge in Lehigh County in 2021.