With nearly all precincts reporting, Democrats appear to have won a dramatic victory in the Lehigh County commissioner race, seizing control of the Board of Commissioners for the first time in decades.
At the same time, Democrat Mark Pinsley looks to have unseated two-term incumbent Glenn Eckhart, securing a clean sweep for the party.
Commissioner Dan Hartzell, a South Whitehall Township Democrat and a former Morning Call reporter and columnist, claimed a large lead early and never looked back. He appeared to have a second term locked up with a lead of approximately 1,800 votes ahead of the next closest candidate.
Immigration attorney Dave Harrington was in the mix all night as well. The Lower Milford Township Democrat appeared to have a 400 vote lead over the rest of the field.
“I don’t consider anything in the bag until every vote is in,” he said. “If things continue like they are, it should be a good night.”
As the night progressed, Bob Elbich of Weisenberg Township and Zakiya Smalls appeared to have edged out incumbents Marty Nothstein, a Lowhill Township Olympic cycling champion, and Brad Osborne, a former South Whitehall Township commissioner, for the final two spots. Republicans Antonio A. Pineda and Dennis Nemes and Libertarian Matt Schutter appear to have brought up the rear.
Osborne held out hope, saying some missing precincts were in traditionally Republican areas and could shift the outcome.
“At this point in time, I consider all these results very preliminary,” he said around 11:35 p.m.
Over the past few months, Democrats appear to have out fundraised their Republican counterparts. Commissioner races in recent years resembled financing arms races with candidates spending over $200,000 in 2015, that number dropped to $119,000 this year. Most of that money was going to the Democratic candidates or their new political action committee, Your Mother.
The race does not appear to have been impacted by the new tax hike commissioners passed this year. All three Democratic commissioners on the board supported the increase; Nothstein and Osborne were the only no votes.
Pinsley surprised political observers last year when he nearly unseated state Sen. Pat Browne, a member of the Republican leadership in the state legislator. He was able to redirect that success this year to become the county’s fiscal watchdog.
Eckhart became controller in 2011, a year after he failed to kill a 16% tax hike as a county commissioner. Over the eight years in office, he clashed at times with the conservative slate of Republicans who took over the board of commissioners, criticizing the campaign finance laws they passed as ineffective and incentivizing politicians to obscure where their donations are coming from. He was one of the few Republicans in county government to maintain a working relationship with former Executive Tom Muller, who publicly feuded with the board of commissioners.
