Greater Harrisburg's Community Magazine

Harrisburg, Dauphin County municipal primary field begins to take shape

There are still a few days to go before final nomination petitions are due, but the Harrisburg and Dauphin County municipal primary races are already beginning to take shape.

The county Bureau of Elections & Voter Registration has posted the names of candidates who have handed in petitions as of end-of-day on Thursday for the primary.

In Harrisburg, three, four-year seats for City Council are up for grabs.

So far, all three sitting council members have turned in nomination petitions: Danielle Bowers, Dave Madsen and Westburn Majors. This is the first contested race for Bowers, who was appointed last year to fill an open seat following the departure of former Councilman Cornelius Johnson.

Midtown resident Christina Kostelecky is the only challenger thus far to turn in a nomination petition for a City Council seat.

In the closely watched race for five, four-year seats on the Harrisburg school board, incumbents Lionel Gonzalez and Ellis R. Roy have turned in petitions, as have challengers Jayne Buchwach and Steven Williams.

In the only other city race, incumbent Treasurer Dan Miller is seeking re-election for a four-year term. So far, he is unchallenged.

On the county level, Republican incumbents Jeff Haste and Mike Pries have turned in nomination petitions, as have incumbent Democrat George Hartwick and Democratic challenger Diane Bowman.

So far, only Republican incumbents have turned in petitions for county row offices. These include District Attorney Fran Chardo, Sheriff Nick Chimienti, Clerk of Courts Dale Klein, Recorder of Deeds Jim Zugay, Treasurer Janis Creason and Register of Wills/Clerk of Orphans’ Court Jean Marfizo King. As of last night, no candidate had submitted petitions for county controller.

Candidates have until this Tuesday, March 12, to turn in nomination petitions with sufficient valid signatures to the county Bureau of Elections. The primary election is on May 21. The general election is on Nov. 5.

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