McCabe bows out of Chester County Court race
The contest for two seats on the Chester County Court of Common Pleas bench has narrowed as one of four candidates who sought the Democratic Party’s endorsement announced he would withdraw from the race.
On Friday, Thomas P. “Tip” McCabe sent a message on his social media page saying that he had made the decision to bow out of the coming campaign to capture the party’s nomination in the May primary, a surprise move after he had garnered a significant amount of support in his quest for the seat, and had, indeed, fallen just shy of winning the endorsement of the Chester County Democratic Committee at its convention Tuesday.
“I want to thank you all for your support throughout this campaign season.” McCabe, a criminal defense attorney in private practice with a Pottstown law firm, said in his statement. “I am proud of the support and endorsements that I have received, Your consideration of me is a humbling honor. I am very proud of our team’s strong showing at the (party’s) endorsement convention.
“However, I believe that our Democratic Party is stronger when we are united. The vote percentage for me at the (convention) fell just shy of earning an endorsement. Therefore, I am respectfully bowing out of this race for Court of Common Pleas Judge,” he wrote.
McCabe, of Newlin, who was making his second run for the Common Pleas bench, said he would support candidates Alita Rovito, who was endorsed by the committee on Tuesday, and Anthony Verwey, who came in third in the contest.
The fourth person who sought the committee’s nod, prosecutor Carlos Barraza, said in an e-mail Friday that he intended to continue on with his candidacy through the May 18 primary.
“There have been no changes,” Barraza said. “As the candidate with the most courtroom and trial experience in this county, I look forwards to getting my message out to all the citizens of the county who I have served non-stop for the past 18 years.”
Thus, the voters will have a choice in May between five possible candidates for the court, which handles criminal and civil cases and trials for the county. In addition to Democrats Barraza, Rovito, and Verwey, there are two Republican who won their party’s endorsement on Tuesday, former Philadelphia prosecutor Lou Mincarelli, now in private practice in the city, and county Assistant Public Defender P.J. Redmond, who sought the Magisterial District Judge seat in West Goshen in 2019.
Judicial candidates in Pennsylvania are permitted to cross-file, thus opening the possibility that all five could appear on each major party’s ballot in May. The top two vote-getters in that contest would then go on the November General Election. Should the same two candidates prevail on both ballots, the November election would be uncontested.
The Democratic committee members, meeting virtually because of the COVID-19 pandemic, had endorsed only Alita Rovito, of West Goshen, who received 83 percent of the vote on the first ballot, 18 percent more than the needed 65 percent of the 400 voting committee people.
They could not, however, come to an agreement on the second endorsement, splitting between McCabe and Anthony Verwey, with 47 percent and 43 percent respectively. After Barraza’s name was dropped from the second ballot, McCabe received 58 percent of the vote and Verwey 43 percent.
McCabe’s campaign for the endorsement had been impressive, collecting the support of several county Row Officers, including Prothonotary Debbie Bookman, Recorder of Deeds Chris Pielli, and Sheriff Fredda Maddox, as well as a number of municipal officials. But he would theoretically have had to face off against Verwey, who is deeper entrenched in traditional Democratic Party circles, and the battle may have divided the party in the coming months.
By withdrawing now, McCabe still holds open the possibility of running for the next open Common Pleas seat, which could come as early as 2024 when Judge Jeffery Sommer’s 10year term expires. McCabe alluded to that in his statement, telling those who read his post that, “when the opportunity to run for Court of Common Pleas judge presents itself again, I hope I will have earned your continued support.
“I know that this announcement will disappoint some of my supporters, and I want you all to know that I have our county and our Democratic Party at the forefront of my decision,” he said. “In the meantime, I will be seeing you about Chester County in my continued activities within the Democratic Party.
Rovito, a family law specialist with her own practice in West Chester, who previously served as a Special Judicial Master in the county after several years as a county prosecutor, when she helped to establish the D.A.’s Child Abuse Unit, won endorsement with 83 percent of the vote on the first ballot.
Barraza, of Kennett Square, and Verwey, of Downingtown, are both making their first run for the Common Pleas Court. Their backgrounds are varied, with Barraza, now county senior deputy District Attorney, a longtime prosecutor who has handled multiple major criminal cases over the years, while Verwey, a former counsel for the state Disciplinary Board now doing municipal and real estate law with the West Chester firm of Gawthrop Greenwood, has made news as the solicitor for the county Controller’s Office, which sued former county Sheriff Carolyn “Bunny” Welsh over allegedly improper overtime payments to her longtime boyfriend.