Northampton County Controller Tara Zrinski has trounced Amy Cozze in the county's Democratic primary for County Executive. With 156 of 157 precincts reporting, Zrinski had 13,449 votes (56.78%) to 10,194 (43.04%) for Cozze in the unofficial count. Around 10:15 pm, a tearful Zrinski claimed victory. Cozze, who had planned a watch party in Easton, canceled out. Her campaign stated it would release a statement once the results were completely tallied.
It was a nasty race. Zrinski was branded as an opportunist who runs for every office available. But Cozze's actions as elections registrar hurt her bid. She tendered a resignation to take effect just 12 days before an election because she wanted more money, effectively putting her own interests in front of the county. She also unartfully referred the county's commitment to open space as "lazy policy" during a debate.
This race was also something of a proxy war between outgoing Exec Lamont McClure and former Congress member Susan Wild. Wild, who lost her seat to Ryan Mackenzie last year, was apparently miffed that McClure decided to run without seeking her permission. So Wild embraced Cozze, funneled donations to her campaign and spent election day visiting the polls with Cozze. McClure not only funded Zrinski with $10,000 of his campaign treasury but made sure she had a lot of financial support from the trade unions.
So while Zrinski convincingly beat Cozze at the polls, and by a higher margin than I expected, McClure demonstrated to Wild that her reach in Northampton County is quite limited.
Despite the influx of 18,426 mail-in ballots, turnout was an anemic 17.7%.
Zrinski will face Republican Tom Giovanni in November.
In the judicial race, Jeremy Clark (12,132 votes - 52.69%) edged out Bob Eyer (10,851 votes - 47.13%) for the Democratic nomination. But James Fuller, a Monroe County prosecutor, won the Republican nod. This race will be decided in the general election.
In the only contested magisterial contest, Rob Kemmerer won the Republican nomination with 67.21% of the GOP vote, while Ellen Kingsley captured the Democratic nod with 46.77% of the votes cast. That race will therefore be decided in November.
In the NorCo Council races, the five candidates on the Dem Ballot and GOP ballot all won. The top Democratic vote getter was David Holland, a psychiatric nurse and former administrator at Gracedale. The top Republican was Sam Elias, a Bethlehem police officer.
Patti Bruno had hoped to mount a successful Democratic write-in campaign, but the 1,000 or so write-ins cast are far below what would be needed to topple a Dem on the ballot.
In Bethlehem, Mayor Willie Reynolds scored a near landslide (64.96%) against Grace Crampsie Smith in his bid for re-election. It also appears that incumbents Rachel Leon and Hillary Kwiatek will keep their seats. They'll be joined by Justin Amann and Jo Daniels in the general.
In Easton, incumbents fared more poorly. Roger Ruggles and Taiba Sultana have lost their seats to Frank Graziano and Susan Hartranft-Bittinger, respectively.
113 comments:
Susan’s support of Amy is nothing. She’s so miffed At Lamont she intentionally recruited a Congressional candidate to run against him who could actually lose in what’s likely to be a great Dem year.
The results in Northampton County aren't really surprising. However, outside the county, Matthew Tuerk with the blowout win over Zucal and, how, did Krasner win over Dugan in Philadelphia? How? Krasner is the biggest goon in the Philadelphia political scene since that ultra-corrupt John Street. Intelligence doesn't appear to be a trait amongst Allentown and Philadelphia voters.
Back to Northampton: now we get to see Tzara campaign for the next 5.5 months. It's time for #TeamTom.
I saw the tearful Zrinksi "bullhorn tone" shrieking into Grace Griffiton's microphone at 10:15. The background crowd looked pretty soused. One of Lamont's $5K donations should cover that bar tab.
On the bright side, maybe Susan Wild gets the hint and just disappears from the Lehigh Valley scene. Oh, please, just get out.
Congratulations Tom, the next county executive.
What an embarrassing third place finish for Vargo Heffner. She is now in real jeopardy of losing this Fall.
Amy had tremendous advantages. She had the endorsement of a popular former U.S. Senator and popular Congresswoman. She had plenty of money. Tara barely out raised her. She made two critical mistakes on strategic and one tactical. The strategic mistake was in failing to embrace the successes of the last 8 years. She could have credibly claimed credit as having once been part of the McClure Administration. The tactical mistake was to call Farmland Preservation “lazy policy” in the fight against the building of more warehouses. I still think Tara wins, but it would have been much closer had she hugged McClure’s legacy instead of trying to change the way people feel about it.
I’m stunned that 280 or so people voted for that nut Taiba. She should have got zero votes!
Why must we wait until November to cast our vote for the next executive, Mr. Giovanni?
Sue Wild is greatly diminished today. She stood at a poll all day for Cozze yesterday only to have this humiliating defeat hung on her.
Irony Alert: Vargo Hefner’s political survival now relies entirely upon Tara crushing Tom. Tara doesn’t beat Tom by at least 5 or 6 Lori is a goner !
Those videos of Matt Flower and his wife sealed their fate. Her outburst in Bath that got the police called on her was amazing. What a shitshow. #Matt4prison #Mrsflower4mentalhospital
Bernie's kiss of death strikes again! I for sure thought Eyer was going to get the nomination. Surprising result in my opinion.
Now to Trounce the Quiet man
Agree. Dumb and woke - like paper straws Zrinski - are no way to go through life. When does voting for Giovanni begin?
They both belong in a mental institution.
The Bullhorn vs, the Quiet man
Now please go away Susan Wild & Bob Casey- two worthless politicians.
6:33, I have no issue with her attacking the mistakes of the McClure admin. She probably did not do that enough. Lamont has been a good county exec in many respects, but the employees really dislike him. It is hard for an exec to stay popular among employees over two terms. And as I have told him and have written many times, he just does not pay enough. That really has to change, and that change should come from te party that is supposed to care about working people.
Strategically, she may very well have outperformed Zrinski . She was running ads on youtube and they both had about the same number of mailers. I doubt very much that she had Zrinski's ground game. Cozze made several tactical blunders, but let's be honest. Zrinski has over the years (not months) built a lot of grass roots support bc of her involvement in many local environmental issues, from sludge to water quality to landfills. She was involved in these matters long before she ever ran for office.
Her "lazy policy" remark was caught by insiders, but I doubt it meant much to voters. She did outdebate Tara.
Her letter from Casey was a huge mistake bc most people probably just threw it in the garbage without opening. It would have been better to have used that $ for a postcard or splashy flyer from Casey.
I believe that, in the end, her character did her in. She put her own interests ahead of the county when she tendered her resignation as elections registrar to take effect just 12 days ahead of an election and did so, over all things, salary. I could have respected her if she tendered a resignation and scheduled it to take effect one day after the election. That would have been morally correct. But what she did was blackmail. It speaks volume to her character. She should never have run. She should work for warehouse developers.
Please, Zrinski is an embarrassment
Tom Giovanni is nothing like Cozze and is highly admired in the slate belt. He bleeds character and integrity. To beat him, Tara is going to have to forge her own path and diverge from Lamont on issues like employee compensation while embracing what he did correctly. She has to be who she is, and she definitely is a progressive. But I think she can be more effective as such if she adopts more of a conversational tone as opposed to a rally tone, when addressing those issues. And she should stick to county issues.
So sad that the only lesbian running for office failed in this election cycle a week before the start of Gay Pride month.
No wonder people can’t stand Trump and his supporters.
8:44, Yes, I thought Bob would win and voted for him, but I am just as pleased with Jeremy.
I can't figure out if this is a troll or a legitimate gripe.
Who gives a shit if someone is a lesbian? People who reduce others down to their identity are bigots. Soooo, stop being a bigot.
Re: 9:33. Late May and we already have a solid contender for dumbest comment of the year on this blog. Given the sheer volume of lowbrow comments Bernie's Blog receives, it's quite a feat to lock up a nomination so early in the year.
Nobody knows Silent Tom. There are also some questions about his character that will be raised during the course of the campaign. I think he oozes something, but it isn’t integrity.
The commentator that predicted Zrinski would win easily was right. She pummeled Cozze. Cozze was too cozy with developers.
Good morning everyone,
I want to thank each of you for your work, your kind words, your financial support and your election day activities.
We were outspent many times over, working against system insiders, illegitimate Republican splinter groups and others who have a vested interest in suppressing change. I was personally the victim of an unprecedented slander and libel campaign the likes of which I have never seen in a local election.
Despite that, I obtained 1/4 of the Republican vote and I am very proud of what we did. I will continue fighting for change, calling out the broken elements of our system for what they are and promoting and protecting your constitutional rights.
I visited approximately 1900 homes during this campaign (many more than once) and had meaningful conversations with our voters across the entire judicial district.
This is an opportunity to build, consolidate and position ourselves for future wins and to promote candidates with platforms that support Constitutional principles.
I am deeply honored to have received support from this community and hope you will continue to work with me going forward to create positive change right here in our judicial district.
Furthermore, I urge each of you to give Robert Kemmerer your full and unwavering support as we move into the general election. He is a good candidate with pure intentions who is now running against a dangerous and dishonest leftist who cannot be allowed to take office.
I cannot thank you enough.
Sincerely,
Matthew L. Flower
Edit: This page and my website www.flower4justice.com will remain live in an effort provide a place for this community to reach out with concerns regarding judicial matters, to receive assistance in understanding and utilizing legal process and to air legitimate grievances with our elected Northampton County Judiciary and associated administrative process. I will do my best to be responsive and provide insight as I am able.
The highest ranking gay official in history is our current Treasury Secretary. He was appointed by Trump. Nobody cares about sexual orientation or whatever, we just want good candidates. Plus Cozze was on the Democrat ballot, so blame democrats.
They say a leopard never changes its spots- unless your Bernie O'Hare. I remember, just a few years ago, reading several posts, where, after 1 of many embarrassing public displays, you stated that Zrinski, acted "like an unhinged person and she couldn't come across as level headed or use common sense." She owes a lot of her victory to this blog, since you were an arm of her campaign for the last several months. I'm not surprised that the machine politicians won yesterday's election, and it's no wonder successful business people like Nat Hyman or Mark Cotturo seldom run for office- you have to kiss the ring, and you wouldn't see them jumping up & down on the steps of a Post Office with a bullhorn yelling unintelligible nonsense just to gain attention to oneself, rather than an issue. No matter how hard she tries to "re-define" herself, there's nothing authentic about her- she's a lightweight Progressive propped up by McClure and Barron. The recent picture of her with Bernie Sanders and the rest of her ilk speaks volumes.
Bob Casey is an honorable man and was a good senator he just ran a poor campaign and forgot how he first won. He didn’t emphasize his record enough on what he did for children.
Memo to Republicans: Plaster the picture of the Bullhorn, Bernie Sanders & the rest of the nuts, everywhere from now to November.
So the Republicans have no one running for Mayor in Allentown or Bethlehem? Sad!
Kemmerer got twice as many votes as Kingsley but could not quite pull off the sweep. He’ll easily win in the fall. Great guy who deserves the job.
Probably the same people that swore that Silly Steve was going to beat Lamont a few years! Lol
Tom gets to brag for the next few months that he has a CHANCE (not a real chance) but a chance to get elected in November! Please don’t let that happen, that would be bad, costly and an irreversible mistake.
Cozze had a grasp of the issues, witnessed by her debate performance- she wiped the floor with Zrinski. BUT, her fatal mistake was quitting her office days before an election- she could never recover from that very stupid & selfish mistake. Now, we're stuck with an incompetent lightweight as a candidate!
Did she occupy a handicapped parking spot while there? Has she moved her car yet? I have several questions.
Memo to Democrats: plaster images of grocery stores prices, GDP and national debt BEFORE the clown took over office in January 2025! Oh and spray paint the word tariff on everything as a reminder about how amazing this country is doing! Do this through November! Don’t forget to show the clowns approval ratings also! This should be easy 2025 and 2026!
I agree 100%. No wonder Allentown, Bethlehem and Philly are descending into hell- Easton is the only local city with a sane Democrat leader. As far as the Bullhorn, she's an incompetent. inauthentic, lunatic propped up by the machine.
Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to Democrats- Tuerk & Reynolds won big too
Please, like Susan Wild & Bob Casey, just go away and resume making your porn videos!
What on Earth does one's homosexuality have to do with performing government tasks? I think gays are weird and troubled. I also think most quietly believe this. But it doesn't stop me or them for voting for a qualified candidate who is homosexual.
10:41 you're delusional! sure, record inflation & debt, 2 wars, and being led by an infirmed idiot who couldn't string a sentence together were the good old days!
McClure picked up the tab
Bob is decent, so is Jeremy
Call it honestly, Cozzi was not pummeled, she was defeated….understand that words matter
10:41 is a poster child of what's wrong with our party- on the wrong side of every 80/20 issue. No policy ideas, just Trump hatred.
How great we are doing? Go get a house mortgage at 7% , or look at the gift of the millionaire tax cuts, but millions of dollars being stolen from Medicaid! While you are at it, remove your blinders and ear plugs.
Hellooooo it was a DEMOCRAT primary. Trump lives in people’s heads rent free LOL.
10:41 has to be Keegan. Only that spaz is dumb enough to start talking about consumer prices and national debt in 2025.
Stay in your lane (getting drunk and watching keeping up with the kardashians would be my best assumption of her lane.)
What surprises me is Lamont’s full throated backing of Zrinski. She’s a Bernie Sanders liberal, basically a democratic socialist. McClure seems much more moderate, it just seems like a weird partnership.
All true!
Relieved to have the noise and litter from these campaigns over with, for now!!!
It’s interesting to see that long-time Easton City councilman Roger Ruggles lost his race. They must be in mourning in Easton City Hall. DR Ruggles was nothing more than a rubber stamp for the policies of Mayor Panto. The entire Easton City council,Ruggles,included, screwed the residents of downtown Easton by allowing that bike path up the steep College Avenue. The entire purpose of this bike path is to prevent downtown residents from parking for free as opposed to feeding the meters downtown. Hopefully other members of Easton City councilman will also be defeated in future elections. As for MS Sultana,maybe she can find employment at a Dunkin Donuts.
Ok. Biden had 9 percent inflation lol. The last two inflation reports came in better than expected. Trump RCP average approval is 47.3 %. Not bad in this polarized environment with 95% of the media beating the shit out of you everyday. Biden was at 36%. This is the problem for democrats, every issue they want to attack, and rightly so, they have problems with also. Now they have to deal with a scandal and coverup that looks like it could be bigger than watergate. How can anyone trust a democrat after what’s come out in Tappers book?
The Democrats Committee of Saucon Valley was out in force at the polls supporting Eyer. I asked why should vote for Eyer over Clark and was told some BS- too young, inexperienced, etc...
I voted for him anyway.
As a lifelong Democrat, I will not be voting for Zrinski. She's kooky and doesn't have a grasp on the real issues facing the County. She's a bobblehead anointed by McClure. I'm not sure with whom I'm more disappointed in her victory, McClure or the voters.
Tom will unfortunately win in a landslide in November.
With the deals that dangerous Donny is cutting in Saudi Arabia Arabia for his hotels and clubs, taking millions in gifting, and Sonny Kushner getting trillions from Saudi investments, we will soon be called United Arabian States.
@11:01
Average rate for mortgage loans in November of 2024 was 6.81%
Words matter unless you’re talking about a conservative. Don’t get triggered there LOL. Liberals are so sensitive.
If Giovanni would win, it would not be because of his ability to demonstrate his expertise in handling 2,000 employees and a million dollar budget , because he hasn’t demonstrated any ability to do it.
I will accept no more comments about the Flower race. Grow up, people!
Jerry Seyfried is out there now for Tara. Shocking 🤔 since he has claimed to not agree with McClure and has been basically not personally supported candidates. He was on stage when Tara announced her candidacy for executive and was now there again when she won the primary. Will see if he attends her concession event in November. Vote for Giovanni!
Alright all ready. THE SIMPLE REASON THAT COZZE LOST IS BECAUSE ZRINSKI GOT MORE VOTES. ta dah??????
I actually enjoyed the reprieve of "Orange Man Bad" the last few weeks on this blog, but was soon getting tired of Bernie carrying water for Zrinski. Cozze was the best of 2 bad candidates. Zrinski a Progressive lightweight- no matter how you look at her. She also lacks authenticity, just like Killary & Harris.
No wonder- the local Republican Party leadership is a clown show- one is as incompetent as the other.
Neither Casey or Wild are popular- I hope they just go away. BTW, I asked Wild to sign my Handicapped Parking Permit- no response.
We will see if the zarinski show continues during the Giovanni debates. If she doesn’t get the hint, she will do more good for the G man.
Only if you stop flattering the megaphone maniac!
11:13 -- If 10:41 is Keegan, well, today is a school day. Hmm?
9:33 wins the award for the dumbest comment of the year- by far. It's imbeciles like you that has our party polling at 20%, and is the reason Trump staged the Greatest Political Comeback in History. Grow up!
Keegan & Warren: dumb & dumber.
9:33 you win the prize for the most ignorant comment of the year. BTW, Trump's Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent & his former DNI & present Presidential Envoy Ric Grenell are both gay.
10:55 -- Call it honestly. Cozze was [pick one, a mix, or all] pulverized, pelted, pounded, pickled, plastered, planished, or pummeled last night. In less than two hours after the polls closed, Bullhorn Betty knew she had the win. Understand that idioms matter!
And current today is 7%
What she should do now is throw her support and get her supporters to vote GIAVANNI
Thank you Amy. Thank you for running a campaign which the treatment and livelihood of county employees would be a major factor.
It's amazing in Northampton County that the guy who is missing millions of federal dollars is the biggest signal donating person to the person that is supposed to be looking into where it went???
Well one thing is 100% true county employees get ready to get f--ked again for 4 years..
11:52 you are as much a democrat as I am a Jedi. Next.
And Zrinski has. LOL!
LOL. Wild thinks she is some kind of king maker. She’s in for a rude awakening. Her chosen socialist will be back at woke PPL before you can bat an eyelash.
This next round, Zirinski will have more revealed about her lack of understanding on running a county, and not just her jaws.
The GOP will expose this.
If John Brown‘s buddy, quiet Tom wins. County employees will be wishing that Lamont stayed in office. Tara is pro employee and I think the county employees will find that out. Funny everyone forgets what it was like under Broun. As a county employee, I will never forget those four years. Thank you, Lamont for restoring our healthcare and giving senior people raises not just a lump sum cost of living.
You're delusional- Zrinski is by far, the worst choice in November
So Bernie, you're suggesting Bullhorn change "who she is?" She's an incompetent, woke, opportunistic Prgressive who only cares about 1 person- herself! Hard to camouflage that!
12:46 Yea, just like the 30 shell Companies Biden Inc. set up or the Clinton Foundation scam. Do yourself a favor, and seek professional help for your TDS.
I agree- Vote for Tom, not the phony Bullhorn!
The complete loss of your credibility is now. Selling this completely inappropriate and unqualified person as executive is shameful. All to protect Barrons's job. Interesting that all of Mcclue's cabinet was at her victory party. That is what ten grand buys you. Sell out county residents for your team.
County employees are getting screwed matter who wins. Yeah Lamont was so great he didn't break both your legs only one. He is s great guy
I can tell the person that wrote this isn't a senior person in the county. Probably tara herself. When she talked to the county employees she said everything wrong. Lol. The union senior ppl got just lump sums for 2 of the 3 year contract.
In Bethlehem, the attack mailers backfired. Bryan Callahan’s pathetic attempt to get more council members who would side with his ‘moderate democrat’ views (Cantelmi??? Loser Dee???) only resulted in the entire community truly understanding how vile this guy is. Grace would not repudiate his mailers and took the hit for that, and for generally enabling his blathering, smearing, and Trump-like behavior on council since he was elected. Grace is not as dumb as Bryan but just as opportunistic.
It amazes me how fast people forget about the BrownStain days with Cathy Allen as director. Brown tax increase, brown mass exodus of county employees, brown gutting the healthcare, brown getting us into the P3 Bridge debacle that is still costing us money and is still not finished, Brown voting no on everything If you think Giovani isn't listening intently to JB just watch the video before every council meeting. Bernie you should do a piece on this or when your bored you can do a piece on the absolute horrible administration that the Brownstain admin was to remind these schlebs. But you won't because YOU are a DINO and you secretly love the do nothing republicans including that cow LVH.
Tara told county employees that she would be her own person. Not Lamont, and doesn't agree with a lot that he did. And she understood she was getting handed a pile of SH-T. From Lamont. But then she comes out on 69 news and screaming into the microphone and who is she hugging and holding like a good little girl. That big load of what she said she is getting.
Nurses at gracedale did you get your answer from Tara about your daycare????
The word on the street is the county had never applied for the permits!!!!
Probably had to carry the Keegan’s out.
Just tie the Woke, leftist, radical, progressive anti American Keegan & Tara with their Allentown nuts and Republicans will clean up nice. Waiting for my HUGE banner of Keegan and Tara with Bernie and the radical defund the police Allentown crew. This is going to be easy.
Bernie is a DINO. That’s hilarious lol.
@9:58am Disgruntled CO for sure.
Did they? Read all the Union contracts. We didn’t take steps. We took 5% each year. If you are stuck on moving through the scale that’s fine but 5% is more than a step.
Don't forget, they picked up the Bar Tab too. Shows their integrity when these leaches can be bought for peanuts!
Zrinski wil be just as bad as Brown
She has no integrity- she tells everyone what they want to hear, just to advance herself!
Cantelmi was scary- anyone who uses a 20 year old pic for their campaign, has issues!
When you are always campaigning for a new position, you have tendency to forget about things like child care or daycare programs.
No she has a voting record from her time on council and it is a pro-worker record
It’s not possible to be as bad as Brown. Worst County executive ever.
Honest CO commentary above…Tara blows with the financial wind
McCluless was average, at best. My dog would've been an improvement from John Briwn Pants.
Glorified baby sitters that wish they were real law enforcement. I don’t want my tax dollars paying for criminals to be watched by an over priced baby sitter.
9:58 got it right. Another demo of her priorities for following instead of leading. Always loud and this time thanking her main contributor and those that are similar mind sets.
Lol. Someone who posted that would shit their pants in jail. Lol
What….no megaphone?
Not picking , but Zirinski signs are littering many streets yet. Poor cleanup after claims of doing the right thing and having good teams for the environment and ensuring her people she would demonstrate how efficient she is.
Let’s see how efficient these candidates all are on taking their signs down…
He sold out too
If Boscola FINALLY RETIRES, she'll run for her office- guaranteed!
If Cusick would've campaigned just a little, we wouldn't be in this mess!
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