Incumbent Mayor James Lomeo will face a Republican challenge in the fall from Rick Buxter, a Democrat who waged a write-in campaign for the other party's nomination.

	VWH Campbell Jr., Post-Gazette Write-in Monroeville mayoral candidate Rick Buxter tries to get results while waiting at the No 3 Fire Hall in Monroeville. Buxter, a Democrat, received enough write-in votes to win the Republican nomination. Click photo for larger image. More Primary 2005 photos See the daily Photo Journal for more coverage.

Buxter entered the race last week after the state Supreme Court removed 7th Ward Councilman Harold Katofsky from the ballot for filing an incomplete financial disclosure statement.

Buxter is registered as a Democrat but campaigned among Republicans to get on the November ballot.

The Monroeville Democratic Committee had endorsed Katofsky over Lomeo, a real estate attorney, and Katofsky and other committee members campaigned for Buxter.

Buxter, operations director of Monroeville Mall, represents the third ward on council but was barred from running for another term.

In council races in Monroeville, Democrat Frank Franci defeated David Falvo for the Democratic nomination in the first ward, based on unofficial results. Deborah Hartwick won over Frank Rawson in the third ward, and Clarence Ramsey defeated Barbara Masters in the seventh ward. However, Masters was ahead of Ramsey as a write-in on the Republican ballot.

Republican Pete Titus was unopposed in the first ward, and Peter Bobich Jr. defeated Len Young for the GOP nomination in the third ward.

Penn Hills

Two Democratic council incumbents, Sara Jayne Kuhn and J. Lavon Kincaid, will face Republican challengers Bob Sevcik and Joseph Mickey O'Connor in the fall. The two Democrats were appointed to fill unexpired seats last fall.

Two political newcomers, Democrat Debra J. Costa and Republican Robert Larko, will face off for the two-year council seat in the fall. Larko was unopposed in the primary.

Swissvale

In the race for mayor, Deneen Costanza Swartzwelder defeated Paul N. "Sonny" Tomko, a part-time borough police officer who took unpaid leave to run in the primary, for the Democratic nomination. Swartzwelder, who was the endorsed candidate, said she was relieved to have won. She will face Aldo Pomposini in the fall. He was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Wilkinsburg

Wilbert Young's seven-year run as mayor appears to be over.

Darrell Sapp, Post-Gazette Incumbent Wilkinsburg Mayor Wilbert Young gets a hug from Kay Jones, his neighbor and the Judge of Elections, at the polling station yesterday. Young was defeated by John Thompson for the Democratic nomination. Click photo for larger image.

John Thompson, who won the Democratic endorsement, narrowly captured the party's nomination last night in an upset over the incumbent.

Young has been mayor since 1998. He faced Thompson for the nomination after surviving an effort by Councilwoman Sandra Roberts to knock him off the ballot earlier this spring. She questioned his residency and contended he did not reveal the amount of back taxes he owed the borough, school district and county. A Common Pleas judge ordered Young to file an amended ethics statement but allowed him to run for a third term.

No Republicans ran in the primary. Former mayor Sylvia LaFranchi was trying to organize a write-in campaign for Thompson on the GOP side. Those results were not available late last night.

In the Democratic primary for council, Barbara Ervin won in the first ward, Barbara Kay Nicholas and Jason Cohen won in the second ward and Tracey Evans and Denise Edwards in the third ward. No Republicans filed for the council races, leaving the Democratic winners virtually assured election in the fall.

McKeesport

Incumbents Darryl Segina, 65, and Ann Stromberg, 53, appeared to have ensured themselves another term on council, capturing the four-way battle last night for the Democratic nomination for the three open seats.

Newcomer Paul Shelly Jr. won the third spot, bumping incumbent Dale McCall from his seat.

The four-way primary race for three open seats came down to a ward-by-ward count in this city of 24,000 people. Winning a primary race in this former steel mill town can be a de facto election, since McKeesport is overwhelmingly Democratic and blue collar, and upstart candidate Shelly waged his campaign as if the primary were the election.

Shelly, 41, a systems analyst, created a Web log, held a golf outing and other fundraisers, and hiked the streets of town in a vigorous door-to-door effort to get his message out to voters. His platform included a call for greater representation of younger people with children. The youngest of the four candidates, a father of four school age children and a city native, Shelly capitalized on those qualities to bring home the votes.

Brentwood

The big news in the borough is the attempted political comeback of former Allegheny County Commissioner Bob Cranmer, who ran unopposed for the GOP nomination for mayor last night. He will run in November against incumbent Democrat Ken Lockhart, who also was unopposed.

Incumbent Dawn Synborski, Jay Lieb, Mary Dytko and Elizabeth Ann Schade captured the Democratic nomination last night in the eight-person race for four seats on council. Schade was an endorsed candidate and former council member who lost the last election.

Millvale

With unopposed candidates seeking the nomination from both parties, last night's mayoral race in Millvale saw both Democratic incumbent Jim Burn and Republican candidate Tom McPherson taking their primaries.

It is possible that Burn, who is also the only Democratic candidate for the District 3 Allegheny County Council seat, may move on to win both contests in the November general election.

"The results came back favorable ," said Burn last night. "The endorsed democratic slate card won in Millvale."

He added, "But, I'm not presumptuous, I have a campaign in the fall."

Burn has previously said he would accept the position on County Council if he were "fortunate enough" to win the both mayoral race against McPherson and the county council race against Republican candidate Ed Kress.

In that case, he said last night, "I would please ask the constituents and the resident to get involved" in the process of discussing and nominating candidates to replace him as mayor. Those candidates, he said, would then be voted on by the borough council.

Moon

The race for the Moon Township Board of Supervisors went as one might expect in a race in which both party slates ran uncontested.

Democrats Tim McLaughlin and James A. Vitale locked up their party's nominations and will face Republicans Michael W. Hopper and Gary Schisler in November in what has been an amicable race thus far.

Key issues include sustaining development on University Boulevard, what the township will do with the newly acquired Bon Air Golf Course, and of course, roads and traffic.

Ambridge

Ambridge Borough voters were taking a conservative turn, with a four-candidate ticket holding the top four spots after criticizing the financial dealings of the current council.

Incumbents Tony Cafarelli and Orlando Gagliardi, former council president Mike Mikulich and newcomer Robert Dunn took the Democratic nominations over council President Dave Deiter, incumbents M.J. Flannery and John Ivancik and newcomer Stella Condit, who were also running as a ticket, favoring a more progressive approach to encouraging growth.

The Democratic primary is liable to be decisive in this heavily Democratic town.

North Huntingdon

In North Huntingdon Township, the primary election spotlight focused on the heated battle between incumbent John Thornton and challenger Thomas G. Krause for Democratic nomination in the sixth ward race for commissioner.

Thornton defeated Krause for the nod. It was a replay of the 1998 primary when Thornton defeated then-incumbent Krause by 30 votes, then went on to win the seat. Thornton will oppose Republican Lee Moffatt, who ran unopposed.

Veteran incumbent Democrat Angelo Furlin ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

In the fourth ward, Republican incumbent Richard Gray and Democrat Robert Merda were unopposed for their respective party nominations.

That sets up an interesting battle for the fourth ward seat matching Gray, the only Republican on the current board, and Merda in the November election. If Merda is victorious in November all seven commissioners would be Democrats.

Irwin

Irwin Council will experience an extreme makeover for the next four years.

The second time turned out not to be a charm for challenger Jim Minnich who lost to incumbent Matilda A. "Pat" Altman for the Democratic nomination in the Irwin seventh ward race for council. Altman, who defeated Minnich by 15 votes for the same nomination four years ago, also won the Republican nomination as a write-in.

In the first ward, Phillip Dean Hawk lost to write-in candidate Phyllis Thiem for the Democratic nod for council. Incumbent Democrat Mary Lou Patterson did not seek re-election.

Incumbent Margaret "Peggie" Watson, who was appointed to council last December to fill the unexpired term of fifth ward Councilman Edwin "Bo" Anthony who resigned, ran unopposed for the Republican nomination for a full-term.

Former Councilwoman Virginia DiPrimio ran unopposed for the Democratic nomination is the third ward. Incumbent Democrat Harry Neil did not seek re-election.

North Irwin

Just call North Irwin a write-in voting town.

Incumbents Paul "John" McIntyre and George P. Stove ran unopposed for Democratic nominations in the race for borough council where four seats are up for grabs.

But the big surprise is former Irwin Councilman Edwin "Bo Anthony's write-in campaign for a Democratic nomination in the race for council. He received 11 votes, but the results may be contested due to a residency requirement.

John Lovett and Irwin business owner Lois Woleslagle won write-in Republican nominations for council.

Incumbent Mayor Lenny Santimyer was unopposed for the Republican nomination. No Democrat ran.