Dissecting Luzerne County’s primary turnout and results

Based on Luzerne County’s unofficial primary election vote tally, turnout was approximately the same for both political parties — 26.54% for Democrats and 26.44% for Republicans, analysis shows.

In total, 45,046 primary ballots have been cast and counted to date. A final turnout figure won’t be known until the county election board completes adjudication of a still-unknown number of provisional ballots and mail ballots that had been flagged. That adjudication process starts at 9 a.m. Friday.

Breaking down the ballots tallied to date, 23,382 of the county’s 88,072 registered Democrats voted. On the Republican side, 21,664 of the 81,946 registered party voters cast ballots.

These statistics provide perspective heading into November because a different dynamic will be in play in the general election, when turnout is typically higher and voters are free to choose candidates of any affiliation.

Other county voters shut out of the closed primary also will be in the mix in November: 19,482 registered voters with no affiliation and 6,081 with registrations that are not Democratic or Republican.

Countywide races

Incumbent county District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce was the high vote-getter Tuesday, receiving 15,296 Republican votes to secure the party’s nomination. He was unopposed and may also receive the Democrat nomination through write-in votes. There were 2,196 Democratic write-in votes submitted in the DA’s race, although they won’t be identified and tallied until later in the adjudication process.

Here’s the unofficial tally in the county council race, with the party — Democrat (D) or Republican (R) — listed and the ones set to receive nominations and advance to the general election in bold:

Joanna Bryn Smith (D), 13,920; Patricia Krushnowski (D), 13,272; Brittany Stephenson (D), 12,943; Michelle Rothenbecker (D), 12,796; Jimmy Sabatino (D), 12,484; Maryann Velez (D), 12,326; Stephen J. Urban (R), 9,859; LeeAnn McDermott (R), 9,516; Harry Haas (R), 8,698; Damon Saxon (D), 8,481; Thomas Dombroski (R), 7,982; Kimberly Platek (R), 7,956; Matthew Mitchell (R), 7,489; Gregory W. Griffin (R), 7,332; Anthony Corrado (R), 6,814; Carl Bienias III (R), 6,334; Richard Tihansky (R), 5,674; Ronald D. Knapp (R), 4,850; and Vivian Kreidler-Licina (R), 4,292

There’s a 157 vote difference between Mitchell and Griffin. It’s still unclear if there are enough outstanding provisional and flagged mail ballots to significantly alter that gap.

Council race reactions

Dombroski, of Dallas Township, said his nomination was a surprise because the cards were stacked against him.

“I was like a free agent trying to make an NFL team,” said Dombroski, who has owned a commercial real estate rental business in Wilkes-Barre for 30 years.

He said he never received invitations to obtain endorsements from the County Republican Party, which endorsed six, or a new separate group — Luzerne County Republicans — that backed three. He also doesn’t have name recognition like Urban, whose father served as a county commissioner from 2000 through 2011 before two terms on council under home rule, he said.

Dombroski said he also is a “rookie” in politics and landed the last ballot position of the 12 Republican contenders.

He spoke to at least 1,000 voters before the primary and was promoted in two mailers to voters completed by the conservative Country First Academy, a new nonprofit political organization that contacted him about its interest in supporting his campaign, he said.

“I was as shocked anyone else,” he said of his nomination. “I’m very grateful to everyone who supported me.”

Urban, who was endorsed by the Luzerne County Republicans group along with Haas and Griffin, said he was singled out in the County Republican Party’s attempt to stop him from advancing in the primary.

“They tried to knock me down, but this time it wasn’t successful,” Urban said. “I want to thank the good people of Luzerne County. They’re the ones that ultimately decided to still put their faith in me.”

Urban said his nomination shows “money and the machine doesn’t always prevail.” He expressed hope county Republicans will get on the same page.

“We as a Republican establishment need to regroup and realign the direction of the party and hopefully move forward and win in November,” he said.

The six council members selected in November will take office or start new terms the start of 2024 and serve with Kevin Lescavage, John Lombardo, Chris Perry, Brian Thornton and Gregory S. Wolovich Jr. Councilman Tim McGinley, the lone Democrat currently seated on the 11-member legislative body, is leaving the end of this year because he reached a three-term limit under the county’s home rule charter. The charter does not mandate minority party representation on council — something that existed under the prior three-commissioner system.

Lombardo, council’s vice chairman, said Wednesday the primary has shown that county council is “going to have some significant changes” regardless of which nominees are elected. McDermott, Mitchell and Urban are the only ones currently serving on council among the 12 unofficial primary nominees.

“I hope and would imagine Republicans would keep their majority on council, but with the level of discord going on in the party right now, it’s possible that we might lose several seats,” Lombardo said.

Lombardo said some candidates from both parties expressed “a lot of misinformation” while campaigning.

He was most disappointed Bienias did not secure a nomination, saying Bienias spent many hours drafting amendments to whittle down the county budget.

“He’s very committed to the citizens, and it’s very disappointing to see he was maligned the way he was,” Lombardo said.

T.J. Fitzgerald, who started the Luzerne County Republicans group, said two of the three Republicans his group endorsed — Urban and Haas — received the most votes from that party’s voters on Tuesday. His group spent $2,000 to $5,000, which he said paled in comparison to the county party’s investment in the six it endorsed.

Fitzgerald said all factions of the Republican party must “become a family again.”

“The people have spoken. We do not want the leaders of the party to tell us who to vote for. Those days are dead,” Fitzgerald said. “If they do not have us at the table, the Republican party and our candidates will lose every election moving forward if they pull this crap again.”

Three of the six county Republican Party-endorsed candidates won nominations based on the unofficial results — McDermott, Platek and Mitchell.

County Republican Party Chairman P.J. Pribula said he wants to focus on the positives, saying unofficial results indicate the party is poised to gain a magisterial district judge seat in Shickshinny and hold onto other seats amid competition.

“While I didn’t support all the county council candidates, I want to reiterate it is a Republican-controlled council,” Pribula said. “Now we are moving six county council candidates on to November.”