3 incumbents, 4 newcomers win Youngstown council races

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

The three incumbents on city council running for re-election overwhelmingly won Democratic primaries Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, first-time candidates emerged as the victors in Youngstown’s four other council primaries.

In the 1st Ward, Julius T. Oliver leads Mike Write by only nine votes, according to final but unofficial results Tuesday. The primary winner will be determined after provisional ballots are counted by the Mahoning County Board of Elections about two weeks from now.

Oliver, told of the results by The Vindicator, said, “It’s a small number, but it’s still a win so far. Coming from where I come from, I never thought I’d be capable of doing this. If I win by nine votes that would be awesome. It would still be a win. I will do everything I can to represent the city to the best of my ability. I’m blown away by this.”

Write, a former school board member who lost the Democratic primary for the 1st Ward eight years ago, didn’t take the results well.

“I’m surprised it was close,” he said. “Let’s look at the whole picture. I don’t believe he knows anything about the functions of council. He hasn’t voted since 2012. He doesn’t know the people of the ward. Pound for pound, I was way more qualified a candidate to serve the 1st Ward and the city.”

Write added that the results say “a lot about the mind set of the people,” and that he was hopeful the provisional ballots would go his way.

Incumbent Councilmen T.J. Rodgers, D-2nd; Nate Pinkard, D-3rd; and Mike Ray, D-4th, each faced one opponent each in Tuesday’s primaries and easily won. Rodgers and Ray each captured more than 83 percent of the vote with Pinkard exceeding 71 percent.

“I worked hard over the past four years and people recognized that,” Ray said. “We made some progress and we have some things still to work on. I’m excited about four more years. I also look forward to the opportunity to work with new folks.”

Independent candidates have filed in every Youngstown council ward except the 3rd and the 4th.

In the five-person 5th Ward race, Lauren McNally won the Democratic primary with 29.3 percent of the vote. Michael Santisi finished second with 23.4 percent of the vote.

“I’m not done,” McNally said. “I’m still staying involved and active in the neighborhood watch groups and listening to the concerns of people in the 5th Ward.”

Santisi said, “It’s terribly disappointing, but the voters have spoken. They chose their new leader and they have to live with it.”

In the 6th Ward, retired city police officer Anita Davis had the largest margin of victory in the four open-seat Democratic primaries.

She received 67 percent of the vote against two opponents, and was the only open-seat candidate to get at least 50 percent of the vote.

“I’m thrilled that I won,” Davis said. “It was a good campaign. I think I’ll be a good representative for the ward.”

Three candidates – the most in any ward – filed to run as independents in the 6th.

Davis is the first openly gay person to win a Democratic primary for a Youngstown council seat.

“Being gay is just one part of me,” she said. “I’m glad that people have faith in me. I’m a candidate for all the people.”

Dario Hunter, one of the other 6th Ward candidates who is also openly gay, received only 20 votes – the lowest number of votes of any of the 21 city council candidates in Tuesday’s primary.

In the 7th Ward primary, Basia Adamczak beat three opponents.

“I didn’t get one endorsement in this race,” she said. “But I got the most important one: from the voters. It’s been my passion since I was a child to be an elected official. I’m prepared to lead the citizens of the 7th Ward after the general election.”

Among the three defeated candidates was John Vivo, who was endorsed by the Mahoning County Democratic Party and finished last with only 51 votes.

The day after capturing the party’s endorsement, The Vindicator reported on its website, Vindy.com, that Vivo owed $14,176 in unpaid property taxes and penalties as well as having a dozen other cases filed against him in court for failing to pay state sales taxes, state tax liens, state workers’ compensation fees, and for other unpaid bills.

Vivo had said if he won that he’d use a “majority” of his city council salary to pay his delinquent taxes.