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Former council president wins Dem nod for Struthers mayor by 50 votes
STRUTHERS
By just 50 votes, Danny Thomas Jr. beat Ronald A. Carcelli for Struthers mayor in the Democratic primary, according to final but unofficial results.
The results won’t be finalized until provisional ballots are counted, but it’s highly unlikely that Carcelli, a Struthers school board member, would be able to make up that shortfall.
“It was a very close race, but it’s good enough,” Thomas said Tuesday.
Both candidates have criminal pasts.
Thomas was convicted in 1987 of a felony, illegal use of a communication facility — a telephone — to distribute cocaine. A Mahoning County judge sealed the federal conviction in 1998, and then-President Bill Clinton pardoned him a year later.
A former city street foreman, Carcelli was convicted in 2005 for having an unlawful interest in a public contract. He was ordered to pay $5,000 restitution to Struthers and a $1,000 fine after being accused of taking about $5,000 in bribes and improperly billing the city for about $8,000 in unused asphalt. A Mahoning County judge sealed his record in 2012.
“I think both of our pasts had an input in the outcome of the primary,” Thomas said. “Neither one can change [our pasts] and we’ll go forward.”
Carcelli has repeatedly declined to speak to The Vindicator in the months leading up to the primary. He told a reporter with the newspaper Tuesday that he would discuss the race after the results were in. But he didn’t return a number of phone calls Tuesday evening to comment.
There are three independent candidates seeking to be mayor in the November general election.
The county board of elections has to certify their candidacy before they can be on the ballot.
The candidates are:
John P. Sveda, a former councilman and safety-service director.
Richard Sheeler, who registered to vote Friday and filed to run for mayor on Monday. Sheeler couldn’t remember the last time he was registered to vote.
Richard DeLuca, a retired Struthers water-pollution-control manager and superintendent of Campbell’s wastewater treatment plant. He lost the 2013 general election for 1st Ward city council.
“This is great momentum as I head into the general election,” Thomas said of the primary win.
It looked like a long evening for Thomas when absentee votes were counted. Carcelli captured those 426-253.
But Thomas won the vote of those who went to the polls Tuesday 766-543.
“I knew absentees were going to be difficult so I worked on the rest of the voters,” he said. “I have an excellent group of volunteers who knocked on about 3,000 doors and we’ll do that in the fall and win the general election.”
Thomas also quipped, “I finally beat a Carcelli.”
Thomas lost his 2003 council president re-election bid to Robert Carcelli Jr., the estranged brother of Ronald A. Carcelli.
The mayoral seat is being vacated at the end of the year by Terry Stocker, who opted not to seek a third four-year term.