Several Lower Valley elections uncontested in May primary

At least four municipalities in the Lower Valley had no contested races in the May 18 primary for people seeking party nominations to run for office this fall.

Aspinwall

Voters saw three Democratic incumbents — Marcia Cooper, Jeff Harris and Lara Voytko — along with newcomer Mary Hancock on their ticket for four nominations. On the Republican side, newcomers James Bonant and Sharon Donnick captured nominations.

The six nominees will meet in the fall to compete for four, four-year seats on council.

Blawnox

It appears that the four council incumbents will retain their positions for four more years.

Democrats Jess Dayhoff, Deb Laskey, Meghan Kennedy and Randy Stoddard ran unopposed.

There were no Republicans on the ballot.

Indiana Township

Democratic newcomer Jonathan Neumann will take on incumbent Michael Schurko in November. Both ran uncontested campaigns in the primary.

O’Hara

In four of the five voting wards in O’Hara, races also were uncontested.

Ward 1 saw political newcomer Richard Hughes alone on the Democratic ticket. There was no one on the Republican ballot.

Ward 4 also saw a newcomer capture the Democratic nomination unopposed. Olivia Payne secured the nod after her opponent, Rebecca Brown, withdrew from the race.

In Wards 2 and 5, Democratic incumbents George Stewart and Cassie Eccles ran unopposed. No one ran on the Republican tickets.

O’Hara voters could potentially see a race this fall in Ward 3. Republican nominee Mike Hammill beat incumbent Greg Caprara by a wide margin, 105 votes to 39.

However, there were 19 write-in votes by Democrats.

Only 10 write-in votes are needed to get on the ballot in November, according to county election officials.

People who receive enough write-in votes to run in the general election must accept the party’s nomination and be qualified to run before their names are placed on the ballot.

Election department officials on Monday morning said it would likely be at least a week before write-in results are released.

Hammill, in the meantime, said securing the Republican nomination was great news.

“Lots of hard work went into this process, and I want to thank all of those who helped guide me along and kept me motivated,” Hammill said. “I knew that going door to door in March was rough with the covid-19 out there. I walked through the snow on cold days and still pulled it off. This summer, I will be going door to door as much as possible to make sure I can get to the finish line in November.”

Hammill said there is a lot of work to be done, and he has heard from many residents who want to see changes.

Flooding is a top issue, especially for people who live in the Kittanning Pike neighborhood, he said.

“There are new housing plans in the works where I live and elsewhere, and in fact one of them is right next to me,” he said. “Four acres of woods will be gone with a slight grade. Many local residents will be watching closely to see if any runoff flooding happens and then goes down the hill and into the valley below.”