Come the new year, the Middletown Board of Supervisors will filled entirely by Democrats.
Anna Payne and Dawn Quirple took the two open seats in Tuesday’s election. They will join peers Tom Tosti, Mike Ksiazek, and Amy Strouse.
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Payne and Quirple beat past incumbent Republican George Leonhauser and Pat Mallon, who previously was a Supervisor before being defeated.
The race for the Supervisors seats was set against major issues on voters’ minds in Middletown. Those issues included development, congestion on area roads, and concern over tax increases.
Leonhauser and Mallon were haunted by their previous support of the earned income tax (EIT) that was instituted several years ago. Mallon was the chairman of the Supervisors at the time the new tax was passed in 2013.
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Leading up to the election, bright red signs reading “Mallon and Leonhauser raised our taxes” were placed across the township.
Payne and Quirple did not promise to start an effort to revoke the EIT, but they did state the duo was focused on “holding the line on taxes.”
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Payne and Quirple’s win marks the first time Middletown will have a female-majority board.
In another township race, Democrat Hannah Stackawitz bested Republican Patrick Moser for the auditor position.
