Struthers Democratic mayor has Trump sign in yard

By David Skolnick | March 10, 2016 at 12:08a.m.

STRUTHERS

Mayor Terry Stocker, a longtime Democrat, has a “Donald Trump for president” sign in his front yard.

While Stocker doesn’t know who he’s voting for, it definitely won’t be the Republican presidential frontrunner or any of the GOP candidates on the ballot.

So what’s up with the sign?

“There are other people in my house,” Stocker said. “My daughter [Terra] is backing him. People have a right to express their opinions.”

Stocker said he’s received grief from Democrats, but he won’t tell his daughter to remove the sign.

“I asked her, ‘What are you doing?’” Stocker said. “She said, ‘I like Donald Trump, and I like his message, and I want to put a sign in the yard.’

“She said, ‘I’d like to express who I’m supporting.’”

Stocker said his daughter is hardly alone in backing Trump.

“There are a lot of Trump signs in Struthers,” he said. “I’m surprised.”

That includes a small “Trump: Make America Great” sign which was seen hanging on the wall in the vestibule area of the mayor’s office earlier this week.

“I’m not sure where that came from,” Stocker said when asked about the office sign Wednesday.

“Somebody brought it in. ... I threw it out.”

Stocker said he has another daughter who lives in Poland who has a Trump sign in her yard, and one who lives in Cleveland who is backing Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Stocker said he will vote for a Democrat for president, but hasn’t decided whether he’ll support Clinton or U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“I’m one of those last-minute voters,” Stocker said. “I’ll back a Democrat, but I’m undecided. We’ll see how it goes.”

Stocker was elected in November as a write-in candidate to his third four-year term as mayor.

Stocker beat Democrat Danny Thomas Jr. 1,431 to 1,359 in a race that saw Thomas ahead on Election Day because the Mahoning County Board of Elections failed to count 147 write-in ballots from two precincts that evening.