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Politics & Government

Leetsdale Challengers Win Council Nominations

According to unofficial results, at least three of four challengers will be on the ballot in November's general election.

After a long day at the polls and an even longer night battling with voting machines, Leetsdale council votes are in.

With more than 100 votes each, the challengers who ran together on a slate defeated the incumbents in a landslide victory — the largest number of votes received by an incumbent was 63, which went to Councilman Michael Bajsec. 

Three four-year Democratic seats will go to Melanie Dunn, Linda Michael and Joseph McGurk, who banded together as part of a  to challenge incumbents Bajsec, Robert Cobourne and Ben Frederick.

As unofficial results started appearing on the Allegheny County Election Division’s website about 9 p.m., the  council votes were still at 0 percent. Votes had to be manually pulled out of a machine used at Holy Family Institute due to a malfunction, Dunn said.

Most likely, Linda Michael will win the nomination for the two-year Republican council seat while Frederick will take the two-year Democratic seat, according to unofficial results. 

The four-year Republican seat remains in question, with Jeff Weatherby receiving 70 of 244 votes. The remaining 174 votes cast were write-ins for various candidates.

Despite the unknown outcome of the election, Michael and Dunn said they are thrilled to have won seats after all of their hard work. They said they ran with McGurk on the "Candidates for Change" ticket because they want to change the borough’s spending habits and restore the townpeople's faith in local government.

Questioning from the citizens group led Bajsec, council's vice president, to order an independent  of the borough’s finances. The audit results later prompted borough officials to change spending practices and procedures.

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When asked Tuesday night how she felt about the results of the election, Michael said, “I’m not actually sure of the results yet.”

After learning that she'd drawn the most votes, her voice perked up as she responded, saying this was “the turnout we were hoping for.”

“The 'Candidates for Change' have been trying to keep on top of all of Leetsdale’s issues in order to show our community that we have honesty and integrity,” Michael said. “This is where it all starts—at the grassroots level—and we thank the community for its support.”

Still abuzz from the hectic evening and 13-hour day spent at the polls, Dunn was equally positive.

“Today, Leetsdale voters definitely let the current political party know where they stand,” she said. “This is the biggest primary turnout that we’ve had in some years.

“We’re feeling pretty good tonight, but we aren’t giving up anytime soon,” she said.

LEETSDALE Leetsdale Council
Three four-year terms
Name of Candidate
Party
Total
Winner

Linda Michael
D
119

1
Melanie Dunn
D 106
3
Joseph McGurk
D 116
2
Ben Frederick
D 50

Tom  Brown                                
D      
49    

                 
Michael Bajsec
D 63
4
Robert Cobourne
D 45

Jeffrey Weatherby
R 70

Leetsdale Council
One two-year term

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Name of Candidate
Party
Total
Winner

Ben Frederick
D
70

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