Latest news with #Kormanik-Lucas
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Five candidates emerge as sole candidate for November district judge races
WINDBER – Of the two women who sought to fill a district judgeship in Windber, Kayla Kormanik-Lucas emerged the lone candidate after the primary election Tuesday, unofficial election results show. Kormanik-Lucas, of Ogle Township, advances to the Nov. 4 general election unopposed: she sailed through the Republican primary as the only candidate on the ballot and defeated local attorney Amy Thomas, of Paint Township, in the Democratic primary Tuesday. Candidates are permitted to cross-file for the seat, which has a six-year term. Kormanik-Lucas won 582 votes to Thomas' 279 votes in the Democratic primary. She also won 1,417 votes on the Republican side, where she was uncontested. 'I'm honored that the people of my district trust me to move forward on both sides of the ticket,' said Kormanik- Lucas, a Widener Law School graduate who works as a contract administrator for a local defense firm. She said her victory Tuesday was the culmination of several months of hard work. 'I made an honest run with integrity,' she said. 'I met people (Tuesday) at the polls. It was great to see people come out.' After the November election, Kormanik-Lucas will serve in the judge's seat, serving communities in the Windber Area and Shade-Central City school districts, succeeding District Judge William Seger, who is retiring at the end of the year. The Windber-based district judge seat includes communities in the Windber Area and Shade-Central City school districts. 'I have always felt called to public service,' she said. Thomas said she was thankful to her supporters, but disappointed in recent TV news coverage of the race. 'First and foremost, l'm incredibly grateful to everyone who supported me in this race,' Thomas said. 'Unfortunately, this race was never just about qualifications – it became clear early on that I was also up against media bias and misinformation. The coverage I received was often one-sided and failed to reflect the truth about my record and my character. 'I've overcome significant personal challenges and was fully cleared of past accusations, yet that didn't seem to matter to those determined to discredit me,' she said. 'Despite the loss, I remain committed to serving this community and will continue looking for ways to make a meaningful, positive impact. This was just one chapter – not the end of the story.' A New Centerville judge's seat, in Somerset's District 16-3-05, also had two challengers – both cross-filed – with one winner on both tickets. Patrick Svonavec, of Milford Township, secured that primary victory Tuesday over Daniel Lewis, of Confluence Borough. Svonavec is a longtime attorney with experience practicing at the Common Pleas and federal court levels. Lewis is a longtime state constable in the region. Svonavec won 191 Democratic votes to Lewis' 100. On the Republican ticket, Svonavec won 596 votes to Lewis' 473. District 16-3-05 includes the townships of Black, Jefferson, Milford, Middlecreek, Upper and Lower Turkeyfoot and Casselman, Confluence, New Centerville, Rockwood, Seven Springs and Ursina boroughs. The office was previously held by Sandra Stevanus, who retired last year. In Cambria County, two men sought election to District 47-3-01, which has been held by longtime District Judge Mary Ann Zanghi. William 'Bill' Hines Jr., of Nanty Glo, a longtime law enforcement officer now working as a Cambria County detective, won the primary on both party tickets. His opponent, Aaron Ling, of East Conemaugh, is a former Cambria County public defender who has worked as a full-time assistant prosecutor with the Somerset County District Attorney's Office since 2020. Hines won 779 votes on the Democratic ballot to Ling's 401. On the Republican side, Hines won 958 votes to Ling's 422 votes. District 47-3-01 includes Browns- town, East Conemaugh, Franklin, Nanty Glo and Franklin, in addition to the townships of East Taylor, Jackson, Lower Yoder, Middle Taylor and West Taylor. For Cambria County judge, District Attorney Greg Neugebauer cruised through unopposed primary on both tickets for the position. He won 9,851 votes on the Republican ticket and 7,980 votes on the Democratic ticket. In November, he is seeking a seat that has been vacant since former Judge David Tulowitzki retired in 2023. In Somerset County, District Attorney Molly Metzgar also ran unopposed in her Republican bid for a county judge seat vacated in late 2023 by former President Judge Gregory Geary. Metzgar, of Somerset Township, won 7,359 votes Tuesday on the Republican ticket. Russ O'Reilly is a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat.
Yahoo
21-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Which Windber district judge candidates will be in the primaries after challenges?
SOMERSET ― After a five-hour hearing Thursday before Somerset County Judge Daniel Rullo both challengers for a district judge position will remain on the Democratic ballot and one also on the Republican ballot for the May 20 primary. Amy Thomas will be on the Democratic ballot and Kayla Kormanik-Lucas will be on both the Democratic and Republican ballots in the primary for Somerset County Magisterial Office 16-3-02. Both Amy Thomas and Kormanik-Lucas initially cross-filed to be placed on both the Democratic and the Republican ballots. Magisterial District 16-3-02 includes Benson, Central City, Hooversville, Paint and Windber boroughs; and Ogle, Paint and Shade townships. The county district court is seated in Windber. Current District Judge William Seger is retiring after this term. At the hearing, the challengers requested Rullo set aside signatures for possible irregularities, mainly a question if some of the signatures were written by the same person. At one point, Rullo said, "I have a hard time understanding how it is the same signature without a handwriting expert. I need a degree of certainty if it is the same hand." At the beginning of the hearing, Thomas withdrew her nomination petition for being on the Republican Party ballot. Over the next several hours, Thomas, who filed objections to Kormanik-Lucas' challenge to disqualify several signatures on Thomas' nomination petition, went line by line with those signatures she was challenging. She also defended her challenge to many signatures on Kormanik-Lucas nomination petitions. After withdrawing several challenged names, Thomas needed 19 names to knock Kormanik-Lucas off the Republican ballot for not having the 100 signatures on her nomination petition needed. In the end, she did not have them. The challenge to signatures on the Democrat nomination petition by Kormanik-Lucas came down to seven signatures that were printed and not in cursive. If more than three of them were put aside by Rullo than she could not be placed on that ballot. "The law makes it very clear, you have to have a match," Rullo said. A recess was called so county Elections Director Tina Pritts could access the program that has the voter registration cards to see if the names were printed or cursive on their cards and were a match. In the end, there was not enough names set aside to lower the number of 100 valid signatures needed for Kormanik-Lucas to be placed on the Democrat ballot for the primary. The affidavits, two filed by Kormanik-Lucas and one by Thomas, indicating a signature was placed on the nomination petitions without their knowledge, suggesting forgeries, were all withdrawn. Kormanik-Lucas indicated she was happy with the outcome of the hearing and Thomas said she was "thrilled." This article originally appeared on The Daily American: Who ended up on the primary ballots for Windber district judge?
Yahoo
19-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amy Thomas responds to candidacy challenges. She also claims opponent has same issues
SOMERSET ― Amy Thomas, 39, of Windber, filed objections to the challenge to her candidate petition at the Somerset County Prothonotary late Tuesday, the last day allowed to do so before the 2025 primary. She also is challenging Kayla Kormanik-Lucas' candidate petitions for the Windber district judge seat. Thomas and Kormanik-Lucas are vying for the district judge slot in the 2025 election. Both have cross-filed to run in the Democrat and Republican primaries for that position on May 20. Thomas has filed her objection to two petitions, one Republican and the other Democrat, which were filed Monday afternoon at the prothonotary's office challenging Thomas' candidate petition, sometimes called a nomination petition. Attorney Daniel Kiss of Hollidaysburg filed both challenges. Thomas has also challenged Kormanik-Lucas' candidate petitions for the position. She claims that 80 of the 124 Republican party member signatures on Kormanik-Lucas' candidate petitions for that party should be struck for irregularities, which would leave Kormanik-Lucas with only 44 valid signatures, which is not enough to be on the Republican ballot for magisterial judge. Thomas also challenged Kormanik-Lucas candidate petitions to be placed on the Democrat Party primary election ballot. She claimed in her challenge that 84 of the Democrat party member signatures had irregularies and should be stricken leaving only 40 valid signatures and thus not enough to be placed on the Democrat ballot for magisterial judge. Other: PA Secretary of State travels to Somerset to learn of the election office's challenges The Pennsylvania elections code for magisterial positions requires that a candidate's nomination petition have at least 100 valid signatures from registered and enrolled party members who reside in that district. By challenging the signatures on the candidate petition and asking a judge to strike the challenged signatures, Thomas and Kormanik-Lucas's candidate petitions would thus be set aside because they would not have the 100 valid signatures required by the state elections code for the magisterial position. The challenge by both candidates would explore the validity of signatures with claims that include that the elector is not registered as a voter in that municipality or did not actually sign the petition, which brings forth possible forgery issues. A hearing is scheduled at 11 a.m. Thursday before Judge Daniel Rullo in Somerset County Court on the challenges and objections. This article originally appeared on The Daily American: District judge candidate files objections to challengers' claims
