ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Three Allentown City Council incumbents got strong support from voters across Allentown in their bids for re-election, while four unsuccessful challengers' support was more concentrated, unofficial results show.
Incumbent Allentown City Council members Ce-Ce Gerlach, Santo Napoli and Candida Affa won the Democratic Party’s nominations during the recent primary.
- Incumbents Ce-Ce Gerlach, Santo Napoli and Candida Affa are moving toward re-election after winning the 2023 Democratic primary
- Gerlach won nearly half of all precincts — 27 — while Napoli won 13
- Gerlach, Napoli and Affa will be the only candidates for Allentown City Council on general election ballots in November
They finished as the top three vote-getters in more than a third of the city’s precincts — 20 of 57 — as they fended off challenges from Luis Acevedo, Sarina Torres, Rodney Bushe and Tino Babayan, according to LehighValleyNews.com's analysis of unofficial results.
Gerlach won the most votes in 27 precincts — more than 47% — and was among the top three candidates in 22 other precincts.
Napoli ended Primary Day among the top three in 35 precincts, including 13 where he won the most votes, Lehigh County statistics show.
Affa had 28 top-three finishes; she won one precinct, finished second in eight precincts and third in 19.
Allentown City Council incumbents dominated on the western side of the city, while challengers found their strongest support in east and south Allentown.Unofficial election results
Luis Acevedo ended the night in fourth, less than 200 votes behind Affa. He got top-three finishes in 27 precincts, winning 11 — 10 more than third-placed Affa, according to the analysis.
Six of the seven candidates won at least one precinct: Babayan won four and Torres won one.
Geographic contrasts
Incumbents dominated in the 19 precincts west of 12th Street and north of Cedar Creek.
Gerlach, Napoli and Affa finished among the top three vote-getters in almost all of them, while Gerlach or Napoli won each of the 19 precincts, unofficial results show.
Challengers found their strongest support in east and south Allentown, where Acevedo won 11 precincts.
Babayan got all four of his precinct-level victories east of Jordan Creek, while Torres’ lone win came in the precinct that includes Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital and much of Trout Creek Park.
The three incumbents will be the only candidates for Allentown City Council on general election ballots Nov. 7.
No one sought the Republican Party’s nomination for the seats.
