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Chester County Press

Candidates file for Primary Election

03/19/2019 01:35PM ● By Steven Hoffman

The Primary Election will take place on Tuesday, May 21, and some of the local races are starting to take shape.

While the list of candidates is still unofficial, here is a look at some of the people who have filed to run in a few of the local races in the 2019 Election:

In the Chester County Commissioners race, all three incumbents—Republicans Terence Farrell and Michelle Kichline and Democrat Kathi Cozzone—are seeking reelection. On the Republican side, Farrell and Kichline are the only candidates thus far who have filed. On the Democratic side, Josh Maxwell, Ginny Kerslake, and Marian Moskowitz have filed. In the Primary Election, two Democrats and two Republicans will earn a spot on the November general election ballot.

In the Avon Grove School Board races, incumbent Republican Charles Beatty is being challenged in Region I by Dorothy Linn, who has crossfiled. In Region II, school board president Tracy Lisi and school board member Jeffrey Billig have both crossfiled, while Carmela Ciliberti and Mark Stewart Jr. have filed as Republicans in the race for two seats. In Region III, incumbents Herman Engel and Bonnie Wolff have both crossfiled. Christina Fanning, a Republican, has also filed for the Region III race.

In Kennett Consolidated School District's Region A, Steven Ciprani, Aline Frank, Maribel Garcia, Ann Parry, and Dominic Perigo, Jr. have all filed. Ryan Bowers has filed for an unexpired term in Region A. In Region B, David Kronenberg has filed, while incumbent Michael Finnegan has filed in Region C.

The Oxford School Board race has incumbents Eric Owens and Howard Robinson both seeking reelection in Region I. In Region II, Mary-Laura Buchner-Hulse and Jen Harrison have filed for one seat that is up for election. In Region III, incumbent school board president Joseph Tighe has filed for reelection. Four people have filed for the two district-wide at-large seats: incumbents Robert Tenga and Mark Patterson and Sherri Matis-Mitchell and Denita Wright Watson.

In the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, Rashi Akki has filed for Region A. Scott Bosch and Victoria Baratta have filed for a Region B seat. In Region C, where three seats are up for grabs, five candidates—Jen Brown, Steve Jones, John P. Murphy, Erin Talbert, and Jon Trigg have filed.

In the Kennett Square Borough Council race, three seats are up for election. So far, five candidates, all Democrats, have filed: council president Doug Doerfler, Lorenzo Merino, Rosa Garza Moore, Stephanie Oyler, and Mayra Zavala.

In Oxford Borough, there are three council seats up for election and eight candidates who have filed so far. The Democrats include incumbent Peggy Ann Russell, Kathryn Goodley Cloyd, and Marybeth Rizzo Moore, while the Republicans are Mary Lou Baily, Joseph B. Emhof III, Philip Harris, Joseph Martinelli, and Michele Rich-Ianieri.

West Grove Borough Council candidates include Democrats Karen Beltran, Fred Boyce, Elizabeth Garduno, and Kristin Proto, and Republicans Charles J. Donovan, Clyde R. Jacobs II, Mark Johnson, and Michael Ranieri.

The purpose of the Primary Election is to determine the nominees who will be on the ballot for the general election in November. The Chester County Press will have more details about the Primary Election in the coming weeks.