Nydea Graves wins special election for council seat

COATESVILLE » City voters elected Nydea Graves, a Democrat, to fill an unexpired council seat during a special election Tuesday.

She’s never held elected office before.

“Thank you, so much, Coatesville, for coming out and showing your support,” Graves told the Daily Local News just before midnight Tuesday.

“No matter what the results of this race are, our campaign was people focused and we unified our community,” she said. “I absolutely could not have done any

of this without all of the overwhelming support that my campaign has received from our community.”

A total of 1,664 votes were cast in-person Tuesday in the three-way contested race.

All vote totals are unofficial until certified by the Chester County Board of Elections, and may not reflect the final tallies of absentee or “no-excuse” vote by mail ballots.

Graves won most votes with 72%, or 1,213 votes cast in her favor; 219 votes were cast for Councilwoman Marie Lawson, an Independent, and 228 votes were cast for Republican Fran Scamuffa.

Tuesday’s special election was open to all registered voters in the city, regardless

of party affiliation.

Coasteville remains under curfew, a temporary emergency act enacted by the council in April to mitigate the spread of novel coronavirus in the community, as previously reported by the Daily Local News.

Chester County Coroner Christina VandePol said Friday that more than 86% of all COVID-19 related deaths here have occurred at assisted living facilities.

As of Friday, she said the deaths of 317 people had been ruled COVID-19 confirmed or related since March 28, when the first coronavirus-related death was declared in Chester County by the coroner.

Within this figure includes a total of 298 senior citizens, including veterans and their spouses, have died whilst living inside assisted living homes. The most senior deaths

have occurred at a staterun veteran’s home near Spring City.

“I am a Coatesville resident born and raised,” Graves said. “I’ve been in Coatesville for my entire life and it’s a beautiful and tight-knit community.”

She continued, “Everyone here knows your name and your family and even sometimes your parents and teachers graduated from Coatesville Area High School.”

Graves described herself as “a working class person who has grown up knowing that myself and other working class people in Coatesville have been left behind by the political establishment. As Coatesville revitalizes, I want to assure that the community that I love so much has access to a living wage, guaranteed housing and can share the benefit of a thriving community.”