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Pennsylvania voters to settle close races for judge, county control

Reading, Pennsylvania's fifth-most populous city, is poised to elect its first Latino mayor.

  • Marc Levy/The Associated Press
Diane Duffin learns how to use a voting machine with the help of Michelle Montalvo of the City Commissioners Office. Duffin registered to vote for the first time after learning that a conviction did not prevent her from voting in Pennsylvania.

 Emma Lee / WHYY

Diane Duffin learns how to use a voting machine with the help of Michelle Montalvo of the City Commissioners Office. Duffin registered to vote for the first time after learning that a conviction did not prevent her from voting in Pennsylvania.

(Harrisburg) — Pennsylvania’s municipal elections Tuesday will feature two statewide appellate judge seats, as well as some potential firsts in local races.

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

On statewide ballots, Republicans and Democrats are vying for two open seats on the statewide appellate Superior Court. The 15-seat court handles civil and criminal appeals from Pennsylvania’s county courts.

Judges serve 10-year terms and run for reelection in up-or-down retention races. The court currently has eight Republicans and six Democrats, with one Republican not running for another term.

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Shown is a paper ballot during a demonstration of the ExpressVote XL voting machine at the Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, Thursday, June 13, 2019.

The Democrats are Amanda Green-Hawkins, a longtime steelworkers’ union lawyer from Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia Judge Daniel McCaffery. The Republicans are Megan King, a Chester County prosecutor, and Cumberland County Judge Christylee Peck.

There’s also a statewide referendum on writing specific rights for crime victims into the state constitution, although it’s being challenged in the courts.

Philadelphia’s Democratic mayor, Jim Kenney, is all-but assured of a second four-year term in charge of the nation’s sixth largest city. Kenney had an eventful first term, from antagonizing President Donald Trump over Philadelphia’s sanctuary city status to carrying through on his top first-term priority, a tax on soda and other sweetened beverages.

Allegheny County’s executive, Rich Fitzgerald, is expected to win another term in the state’s second-most populous county.

Reading, Pennsylvania’s fifth-most populous city, is poised to elect its first Latino mayor. Democrat Eddie Moran is an insurance agent who also serves on the school board in a city where almost two-thirds of the residents are Latino, according to census data.

Matt Smith / Keystone Crossroads

Democratic mayoral candidate Eddie Moran gives a speech to supporters gathered Nov. 2, 2019, at Jet Set Restaurant for a campaign event as he is looking to become the first latino mayor of Reading, which has a majority latino population. Moran is also seeking to become the first latino mayor of a major municipality in Pennsylvania’s history. (Matt Smith for Keystone Crossroads)

In Allentown, Pennsylvania’s third-most populous city, Republican Tim Ramos and Democrat Ray O’Connell are vying to fill the remaining two years in the term of Ed Pawlowski, a Democrat who was sentenced to prison last year in a corruption case.

Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to take control in more of the counties surrounding Philadelphia.

Democrats haven’t had control of the Delaware County Council since at least the Civil War, while they last had control of Bucks County’s board of commissioners for four years in the 1980s.

Long a bastion of Republican support, both counties are becoming increasingly liberal, a trend that has accelerated since Trump’s election as president.

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