Youth leader Jim Kilmartin defeated borough Councilman Bill Fink by a margin of 100 votes in Tuesday’s Republican primary for mayor of Tyrone.
The 29-year-old Kilmartin won by 100 votes with all precincts reporting according to information posted on Blair County’s election Web site. The vote tally was 470 for Kilmartin to 370 votes for Fink.
Kilmartin had decided to run after learning that Mayor Patricia Stoner would not be seeking a third term. The mayor endorsed Kilmartin in a recent advertisement and had supported Kilmartin’s bid from the outset according to his announcement in February that he was a candidate.
Fink had been elected to Borough Council in 2003 and decided to seek the mayor’s chair as part of a group of candidates which billed themselves as “Team Tyrone.”
In a release to The Daily Herald, Kilmartin said, “I want to thank the community of Tyrone for supporting me. I want to thank my family, friends, Mayor Stoner and those that helped with all of the signs and mailings. And most of all, I want to thank the Lord Jesus for the opportunity to serve Him in this way.
“I look forward to serving Tyrone in this office and working with the council to help Tyrone keep moving forward. We have a great opportunity to see this community blossom.”
Kilmartin also confirmed he was the top vote-getter on the Democratic side in a write-in campaign. Unofficially, he had a plurality of the 185 write-in votes and a more than two to one margin over Fink among write-in voters.
Attempts were made to reach Councilman Fink at his home this morning, but The Daily Herald was unable to reach him by press time.
The other four candidates running with Fink were seeking seats on council. One of the candidates, William Jones Sr., dropped out of the race due to health reasons. Mr. Jones still garnered 176 votes in the Republican primary for one of three available four-year council seats. The vote tally placed Jones sixth among the six announced Republican candidates. There were also 150 write-in votes for the three seats.
The top vote-getter for the four-year term on the Republican side was councilperson Virgie Werner, she garnered 444 votes in Tyrone’s seven wards. Councilman Jim Latchford had 411 votes and former councilperson Sarah Jane Miller was third with 344 votes in the unofficial tally. Candidate Mark Kosoglow finished with 332 votes while Jay Young had 251 votes. Both Miller and Young were part of the “Team Tyrone” group of candidates.
There was also a battle for a two-year term on Tyrone Borough Council. Don Boytim had been appointed to fill the unexpired term of J.R. Watson who resigned late last year. Boytim was required to seek election at the next possible chance if he wanted to continue to serve on council. He faced “Team Tyrone” member Brian G. McManigal in yesterday’s Republican primary. McManigal won by a 437 to 339 margin.
However, McManigal will not be unopposed on the November ballot. There were 99 write-in votes cast for the two-year term on the Democratic side in Tyrone. Councilman Boytim confirmed he received approximately 70 of those votes. So, Boytim will be listed as the Democratic candidate in November versus McManigal. Boytim said this morning, he plans to be “victorious” in the fall.
McManigal told The Daily Herald, “Don’s (Boytim) a nice guy. I like Don, he is a very intelligent man. I spoke with Don earlier this morning. He congratulated me and we had a nice conversation and November’s a long way away.”
The three top vote-getters in the Republican primary, Werner, Latchford and Miller will face off against three Democratic candidates for the three available four-year terms.
On the Democratic side, Councilman Jim Grazier earned 231 votes, former councilman Dan Meckes had 120 votes while another former councilman Edward Isenberg received 105 votes. There were also 109 write-in votes for council in the Democratic primary. It was not clear at press time if enough of the 109 votes went to one candidate to edge out Isenberg for the third spot on the ballot. Someone would have to had received at least 106 votes of 109 write-in votes for that to be the case.
The write-in votes will officially be counted by the election board starting on Friday. An election official said the results might not be known until the middle of next week due to the number of write-in votes received countywide.
Tyrone residents also cast ballots along with voters in surrounding communities in Blair and two other counties, Huntingdon and Centre, which make up the Tyrone Area School District. Candidate Amy Stever was the top vote-getter on both the Republican and Democratic ballots. She will join current school board members, Brian Bressler, William P. Hartsock and James Crawford on the November ballots. The four candidates were seeking four available positions on the board. The candidates will appear on both sides of the ballot in November and barring write-in campaigns by other candidates, Stever and the other three would be unopposed in the general election.
