8 of 9 Norwin board candidates win nominations

Norwin School District voters will get to choose among eight candidates — incumbents and challengers — in the November election because of eight of the nine candidates won either the Republican or Democratic nomination for four seats, according to unofficial results.

The vote count represents only those from the Westmoreland County portion of the district — North Huntingdon, North Irwin and Irwin. The race was not close enough on either ticket that the votes from 18 residences in Allegheny County would make a difference in the results.

On the Democratic ticket, Dana Barvinchak Williams took the top spot with 20.2% of the vote, followed by Carrie McConell Muniz with 19.8%, Brian Carlton, school board president, came in third with 15.5%, and Rob Bunovich came in fourth with 13% of the vote.

Challenger Christine Baverso had 11% of the vote, followed by incumbent Ray Kocak with 7%; Alex Detschelt, 6.7%; and Michael LeRoy, 6%. Baverso, Detschelt and LeRoy ran as a team promoting change for Norwin.

On the GOP side, Baverso led all candidates with 17.8% of the votes, followed by Detschelt with 15.9% and LeRoy at 15%. Kocak, seeking his second consecutive term, captured the fourth spot on the ticket with 13.7% of the vote.

Carlton got just 10% of the vote on the Republican ticket. Dawn Lewandowski received 8.4% of the vote, followed by Bunovich, 6.7%; Muniz, 6.2%; and Williams, 5.8%.

Incumbent director Donald Rhodes did not run for re-election and Tony Corsa, who was appointed to the board in 2019, did not run for a full term.

Based on the unofficial results of the primary, the four candidates with the most combined votes were Baverso with 3,828, followed by Carlton with 3,186, Muniz with 3,104 and Detschelt, 3,093.