Leechburg Area School Board results: Lovelace, Stewart, Brady and Reinke win both party noms

It appears that two incumbents will be joined by two former school directors on Leechburg Area School Board in December.

According to Armstrong County Office of Elections and Westmoreland County Office of Elections unofficial election results, Darius Lovelace, 73, Candi Stewart, 68, Neill Brady, 76, Danielle Reinke, 44, won both the Democratic and Republican nominations for four available four-year terms.

Incumbent Lovelace was the top vote-getter with 411 votes in Democrat races and 267 in Republican races.

With about 99% of precincts reporting results and most write-in votes tallied, Lovelace collected 22% of the votes in Democratic races and 16% in Republican races across Leechburg, West Leechburg and Gilpin.

A total of 1,897 Democratic votes and 1,675 Republican votes had been tallied.

Stewart received 360 Democratic votes and 252 Republican votes in securing her third term.

Brady got 369 Democratic votes and 239 Republican votes. He previously served from 2003 to 2023.

Reinke got 374 Democrat votes and 257 Republican votes in her bid to return to the board. She previously served from 2010 until 2014.

While he was the clear favorite in West Leechburg, Jimmy Feudale (225 Republican votes and 127 Democrat votes overall), was just short of clinching a spot on the Republican ballot in November (14 votes).

Incumbent Ashley Coudriet was also unable secure a position with 86 votes from Democrats and 188 votes from Republicans. Newcomer Janie Borsh-Symons received 169 Democratic votes and 188 from Republican.

During the campaign, the popular topic among candidates was West Leechburg’s property taxes, with almost all of them mentioning a goal of accomplishing equal taxation.

As Leechburg Area is a school district that crosses county lines, administrators are required to use a formula provided by the State Tax Equalization Board (STEB) that tries to equalize the tax burden for all property owners each budget season.

But rather than producing an equal tax bill among Gilpin, Leechburg and West Leechburg residents, Westmoreland County residents have been hit with consistent increases in their property tax.

Lovelace previously told TribLive he wants to work with legislators to achieve uniform taxation. Reinke had a similar sentiment, saying she wants to push for completely new legislation to change the requirements of STEB.

Stewart said finding a balance between “appeasing the taxpayers’ concerns while keeping quality education opportunities for students,” is a priority. She plans to continue her support in the search for relief for taxpayers.

Brady said his goal is to increase communication between the board members, taxpayers, administration, staff and students.