Flannery advances in race for county commissioner

Greencastle businessman John Flannery was the top vote-getter in the Republican race for Franklin County commissioner in Tuesday's primary election, advancing to the fall general election with incumbent David Keller and putting veteran Commissioner Bob Thomas out of the race.

Mary Beth Shank topped Ian Brink on both ballots en route to the judgeship for the 39th District of the Court of Common Pleas, which serves Franklin and Fulton counties. Shank outpolled Brink 9,376-to-6,330 on the Republican ticket and 3,372-to-971 on the Democratic side.

In the only other contested county-level race, former Sheriff Dane Anthony garnered 9,070 votes to secure the Republican nomination over current Sheriff Jim Brown, who received 6,072 votes.

In the special election to fill the vacancy created by the February retirement of state Sen. Rich Alloway, Republican Doug Mastriano of Fayetteville topped Democrat Sarah Hammond of Hanover by a margin of 20,626-to-9,479 to become the new senator for the 33rd District. The district includes parts of Franklin (Greene, Guilford, Hamilton, Letterkenny, Lurgan, Quincy, Southampton and Washington townships and the boroughs of Chambersburg, Mont Alto, Orrstown, Shippensburg and Waynesboro) Cumberland, Adams and York counties.

In the county 

Flannery, who owns John Allison Public House in Greencastle with his wife, Ame, secured one of two Republican nominations with 7,982 votes, followed by Keller with 7,189. Thomas received 6,868 Republican votes, while Julia Lehman, county communications coordinator, received 4,597.

On the Democratic ticket, there were just two names for the two commissioner slots, incumbent Bob Ziobrowski (2,892) and Sheri Morgan (2,576).

In addition to the commissioners race, there will only be one county contest on the ballot in November, with Democrat Damien Buhrman challenging incumbent Republican Register and Recorder Linda Miller. There was only one Republican and no Democrats running for each of the other row offices: Todd Rock, clerk of courts; Harold Wissinger, controller; Jeff Conner, coroner; and Matt Fogal, district attorney; and Timothy Sponseller, prothonotary.

A total of 21,188 ballots were cast Tuesday in Franklin County, with nearly 30 percent turnout for Republicans and just over 19 percent for Democrats.

County commissioners still must certify election results and tally write-ins.

 Greencastle-Antrim 

There were no contested races for the Borough of Greencastle, Antrim Township or the Greencastle-Antrim School Board. Candidates advancing to November include:

Antrim Township Board of Supervisors — Richard Baer

Greencastle Borough Council — Joel Amsley, H. Duane Kinzer, Jeremy Layman and Wade Burkholder

Greencastle-Antrim School Board — Shannon Blanchard, H. Carter Davidson, Michael Still, Shannon Yates, Tracy Baer and Lindsey Mowen