Incumbents Paez, Heidel ousted in Pottstown races
POTTSTOWN >> Two incumbents on two different governing bodies lost their seats in Tuesday’s election.
In the only contest for a seat on Pottstown Borough Council, incumbent Democrat Rita Paez was narrowly defeated by Republican challenger Michael Paules for the Sixth Ward seat.
According to unofficial results posted on the Montgomery County elections website, Paules beat Paez by only six votes, 272 to 266.
Those results could change once absentee ballots are counted.
The Pottstown School Board race was not nearly as close.
Incumbent Kurt Heidel, running on the Republican ballot, was the odd man out in the race for five open school board seats Tuesday.
Heidel mounted a vigorous campaign online and erected more campaign signs than the other candidates.
However, he could not overcome the advantage of the four candidates who won both Democratic and Republican lines on the ballot, or the advantage incumbent Katina Bearden had in running on the Democratic line in a borough with more registered Democrats than Republicans.
According to unofficial results posted on the Montgomery County elections website, the top votegetter was fair funding activist Laura Johnson, who gathered 2,545 votes.
Coming in second was incumbent Susan Lawrence with 2,493 votes.
Newcomer Steve Kline came in third with 2,482 votes and incumbent Thomas Hylton was close behind with 2,387 votes.
Bearden, who only secured the Democratic line in the May primary election, was the fifth highest vote-getter with 1,927, By contrast, Heidel collected only 1,238 votes.