U. SAUCON TWP., Pa. — The dueling slates of candidates that faced off in the primary will compete again in the November general election, according to unofficial election results from Lehigh County.
Democrat Melissa Torba and Republicans Eric Boyer, Tim Kearney, Candi Kruse and incumbent Emily Gehman will run against fellow Republicans Maria Schantz, Paul Deebel, Lance Tittle, Danelle Roy and James Pica in the fall.
There are five open positions on the Southern Lehigh School District's nine-member board; the results in November could mean a dramatic shift in school board policies depending on the election's outcome.
- There were 10 candidates for five seats on the board, including one Democrat and 9 Republicans
- There are two slates of Republicans: moderates and those calling themselves "true Republicans"
- The more conservative Republican slate signed a pledge to enact new policies on race and gender issues
Deebel said he's pleased with the preliminary results of the primary election and looks forward to the general election. The pledge Deebel and the other Lehigh County Republican Committee candidates signed has been controversial.
They vowed to enact certain policies if elected, including requiring board members to vote to overturn what it said is the district’s “policy of hiding gender identity information from parents and guardians” and mandating school officials notify parents and guardians of previously withheld information.
"We were able to put positions down and let people know what we stood for."Southern Lehigh school board candidate Paul Deebel
Under the pledge, board members would not require school staff to use students' preferred pronouns. It also calls for a ban on "woke" politics and rejecting curriculum based on critical race theory, which could limit what is taught about certain historical events in the U.S., such as slavery.
Deebel said the pledge helped turning out GOP voters.
"It's good for me and for my fellow candidates to put our positions out there because with the number of people who were in this race, it can be confusing," he said. "We were able to put positions down and let people know what we stood for."
Gehman said she was really excited about the rate of voter turnout in the primary. Overall voter turnout for Lehigh County was about 22%.
"It's what I could have hoped for, the community really turning out," she said. "That's the biggest win for everyone here."
All candidates except Roy, Shantz and Tittle cross-filed, meaning they appeared on both the Democratic and the Republican primary ballots.
Republicans Gehman, Boyer, Kearney and Kruse will appear on the general election ballot as Democratic candidates, while Schantz, Deebel, Tittle, Roy and Pica will appear as Republican candidates.
