A congressional candidate says a letter from Mahoning Democrats about endorsements arrived after the deadline

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

John Stephen Luchansky, a 13th Congressional District candidate, said a letter from the Mahoning County Democratic Party about its primary election endorsements meeting didn’t arrive until after the deadline date to seek the party’s backing.

Luchansky, of Boardman, said the wrong ZIP code on the letter from Kenneth Carano, chairman of the party’s elections committee, may have caused the delay.

The letter was postmarked Jan. 2, giving candidates until Jan. 6 to ask to be considered for the party’s endorsement. Luchansky said he received the letter Friday, two days after the deadline. The endorsement meeting was Saturday.

Luchansky said he didn’t contact Carano or anyone else in the local party about the endorsement issue because by the time he received the letter in the mail the deadline had passed.

Mahoning Democratic Chairman David Betras told The Vindicator in a Friday article that Luchansky didn’t seek the endorsement.

Carano said if Luchansky had contacted him about the mail delay, “I would have certainly let him come to the meeting and seek the endorsement.”