This week’s municipal election saw little fanfare but resulted in several victories for LGBTs and allies throughout the region.
The Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas will now have three openly LGBT judges, as out attorney Barbara McDermott finished first in her race, joining Dan Anders and Ann Butchart on the bench.
McDermott captured 8.54 percent of the vote, leading the pack of 11 Democrats who were all elected to the bench.
Marlene Pray was elected to the Doylestown Borough Council to become the borough’s first openly LGBT member. The borough is now led by all Democrats.
Openly gay Republican Norristown attorney Daniel Clifford was unsuccessful in his bid to join the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, finishing fourth out of four candidates competing for two seats, which both went to Democrats. Out Republican Tony Simao also lost his race for Bethlehem City Council.
In Philadelphia, Mayor Michael Nutter won re-election in a landslide over Republican challenger Karen Brown.
Dennis O’Brien will be one of the new Republican at-Large members in City Council, with David Oh leading the votes for the second seat. At press time, Oh led Al Taubenberger by 176 votes with 97 percent of precincts reporting. Councilman-at-Large Bill Green led the five Democratic at-Large incumbents, who were all re-elected.
Republican 10th Distrist Councilman Brian O’Neill, the only Republican with a district seat, defeated Democratic challenger Bill Rubin, who managed to capture 40 percent of the vote.
Democrat Bobby Henon will now represent the 6th District, formerly held by retiring Councilwoman Joan Krajewski. Henon defeated Republican challenger Sandra Stewart with 70 percent of the vote.
Democrat Stephanie Singer came out on top of the City Commissioner race with 39 percent of the vote, followed by Democratic incumbent Anthony Clark and Republican challenger Al Schmidt. Republican incumbent Joseph Duda finished fourth and will not re-join the three-member commission.
Democrat Ronald Donatucci was re-elected Register of Wills, while Jewel Williams was elected Sheriff.
At the state level, Democrat David Wecht was elected to the Superior Court in a landslide victory in which he garnered 82 percent of the vote over Republican Vic Stabile. Democrat Kathryn Boockvar was unsuccessful in her race for Commonwealth Court against Republican Anne Covey.
For the first time, the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners now has a Democratic majority, with the addition of state Rep. Josh Shapiro and Leslie Richards. Shapiro and Richards have pledged to spearhead an LGBT-inclusive countywide nondiscrimination ordinance for Montgomery County.
In New Jersey, Dr. Timothy Eustace, currently the mayor of Maywood, N.J., became the state’s second out lawmaker Tuesday with his election to represent the 38th District in the Assembly.
In Morris County, North Jersey, voters elected out Council member Bruce Harris as mayor of Chatham Borough, probably the county’s first African-American gay Republican mayor.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].