Looking Ahead to November: The Potential Races in the Phoenixville Area

The primary gives each party the chance to whittle down the field, selecting the candidates who best represent each party, as determined by the voters.

While Tuesday’s turnout in much of the Phoenixville area was abysmal at best, the primary voters decided who will appear on the ballots for the municipal election come November.

With five seats on borough council up for grabs and five open spots on Phoenixville Area School Board, there’s still a lot left to decide. In Schuylkill Township, if a write-in candidate chooses to run, there may be a race there, too, and two fresh faces will go head to head in Upper Providence Township for the seat currently held by Robert Fieo, who lost in the Republican primary yesterday to Lisa Mossie.

Here’s how it will turn out, if all the candidates who got the nod Tuesday stick around. The (i) signifies an incumbent. Keep in mind that results from the primary are not yet official.

Phoenixville Area School Board

Republicans chose their five top candidates yesterday, and Democrats did the same.

Ken Butera, Leslie Dengler, Kevin Pattinson and incumbent David Ziev were in the top five vote getters in both primaries. Both Republicans and Democrats picked those four in the top five.

So how did five and five make the six who will appear on the ballot in November? Because all candidates except one, Kyle Shirkness, cross-filed, they appeared on both the Republican and Democratic ballots Tuesday. While Dems and GOP voters agreed on four, they couldn’t agree on the fifth. Paul Slaninka, an incumbent and the current president of the board, received the highest number of Republican votes yesterday but didn’t make the top five for Dems. Irfan Khan received the second highest number of votes from Democrats. Khan, however, didn’t make the top five on Republican ballots.

Basically, in the primary the candidates on the primary ballots were simply running for a spot on the ballot in November. Six candidates earned a spot by landing in the top five on their respective ballots.

Your PASD School Board ballot in November, unofficially and if nothing changes:

Choose five candidates from the following:

Ken Butera

Leslie Dengler

Irfan Khan

Kevin Pattinson

Paul Slaninka (i)

David Ziev (i)

Phoenixville Borough Council

An unexpired two-year term in the middle ward spices up the council race a bit, as it brings the number of open seats up to five, meaning that more than half of council could turn over in the next election.

Well, sort of, anyway. In the middle ward, incumbent Marc Reber ran for both seats on the Republican ticket. He was unopposed on both of those yesterday, so in the November primary, his name will appear as the Republican choice for both the two-year term and a four-year term open in the middle ward.

Jennifer Mayo, who was recently selected to fill the vacancy created when former vice president Mike Handwerk resigned, will appear on the ballot as a Democrat running for the four-year term.

Kyle Guie, who currently serves on the borough planning commission, will challenge Reber for the two-year seat in the middle ward. Both Guie and Mayo were unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

Your middle ward ballot in November, unofficially and if nothing changes:

Unexpired two-year term:

Democrat Kyle Guie vs. Republican Marc Reber (i)

Four-year term:

Democrat Jennifer Mayo (i) vs. Republican Marc Reber

The other wards are fairly simple in comparison. Both primary ballots in the north ward featured contested races Tuesday, and the west ward also had a contested race on the Democratic ballot.

Incumbent James Evans (D-North) won’t be running for his seat on council, so the north ward seat will be filled by a newcomer.

Here’s how it will look in the fall:

Your north ward ballot in November, unofficially and if nothing changes:

Democrat Carol Stinson vs. Republican Christopher Bauers

Your west ward ballot in November, unofficially and in nothing changes:

Democrat Jim Kovaleski vs. Republican Kendrick Buckwalter (i)

Your east ward ballot in November, unofficially and if nothing changes:

Democrat Michael Speck (i) vs. Republican Brady Appleman

Upper Providence Township Supervisor

Robert Fieo, who’s served on the board for 12 years and current holds the chairman position, was defeated in the Republican primary Tuesday by Lisa Mossie. A Democrat ran unopposed in yesterday’s primary.

Your Upper Providence supervisor ballot in November, unofficially and if nothing changes:

Democrat George T. Faris IV vs. Republican Lisa Mossie

Schuylkill Township Supervisor

While three Republican candidates vied for a spot on the November ballot, there are only two open positions. Barbara Cohen, who’s currently chair of the board, and Kevin Handforth will carry on to the general election.

No one ran in the Democratic primary. There were, however, 337 write-in votes tallied in Tuesday’s election. The write-in results will not be revealed until after the results are made official by the county.

For now, unless a write-in candidate or two decides to take up the challenge in the fall, Cohen and Handforth will run unopposed in the fall.

East Pikeland Township Supervisor

It’s pretty cut and dry in East Pikeland. Incumbent J. Benson Campbell ran unopposed in the Republican primary, garnering 100 percent of the votes.

No Democrat entered the primary Tuesday for the supervisor position, and in the unofficial results, only seven write-in votes were shown on those ballots.

It seems J. Benson Campbell will run unopposed in the fall.

To see the full unofficial election results for Chester County, visit the voter services website. To see how the Montgomery County races turned out, go to the site to see the unofficial results.