Election Central 2011: Allegheny County Row Offices, Court Races

All vote totals are unofficial until certified by the Allegheny County Elections Bureau but are based on 100 percent of precincts reporting.

Democrat Chelsa Wagner, a state legislator from Brookline, easily defeated Robert Howard of Marshall, drawing nearly twice as many votes to win her first term as Allegheny County Controller.

Wagner, a business analyst and attorney, most recently has served as the state representative for the 22nd District in the South Hills. A member of a politically active family, she defeated Howard, a former North Allegheny school director, to win her first term in county office.

Wagner won her spot on the general election ballot after defeating primary-election Democratic challengers George Matta, a former clerk of Allegheny County Common Pleas Court, of White Oak; and Valerie McDonald Roberts, a former Pittsburgh school board and city council member, former county recorder of deeds and former manager of the county real estate department, of Churchill.

She replaces Mark Patrick Flaherty of Mt. Lebanon, who ran an unsuccessful primary-election campaign for county executive.

Democratic incumbent Stephen A. Zappala Jr. won re-election in an uncontested race. With votes counted from 100 percent of county precincts, the attorney from Fox Chapel drew 180,903 votes, or 98.1 percent of the votes cast. Write-in candidates have drawn 3,496 votes, or 1.9 percent of the votes cast.

Democratic incumbent John K. Weinstein, of Kennedy, defeated Republican challenger C. Edward Pfeifer, of Shadyside. With 100 percent of 1,319 county precincts counted, Weinstein drew 151,860 votes, or 67.27 percent, to Pfeifer's 73,693 votes, or 32.64 percent.

With 95 percent of precincts counted, Republican candidate Heather Heidelbaugh, a Mt. Lebanon attorney, and incumbent Democrat John P. DeFazio, a union official and former professional wrestler from Shaler, have won at-large seats on Allegheny County Council.

Heidelbaugh also won an uncontested race to fill the balance of an unexpired term that ends this year, gathering 133,824 votes, or 39.6 percent. Write-in candidates drew 2,499 votes, or 1.83 percent.

This district includes Bell Acres, Sewickley Heights and Sewickley Hills, as well as Bradford Woods, Franklin Park, Hampton, Marshall, McCandless, Ohio Township, Pine, Richland and West Deer.

Republican candidate and incumbent Jan Rea, of McCandless, ran unopposed. She has been a member of county council since 2000.

Two candidates have won election to their first terms on the county Common Pleas Court bench after running on the Republican and Democratic ballots.

• Alexander P. Bicket, an attorney and former teacher at Fox Chapel High School, of Mt. Lebanon
• Michael Marmo, a Common Pleas Court  judge in the family division, a law professor and a former attorney and special master for the county Board of Viewers, of Emsworth

Voters also approved new 10-year terms for five sitting Common Pleas judges in a retention election, including.

• David R. Cashman
• Kathleen A. Durkin
• Michael A. Della Vecchia
• Guido A. DeAngelis
• Randal Todd