Toney, DiCarolis win New Kensington Democratic council primary

Unofficial results from a three-person race for two Democratic Party nominations on New Kensington Council showed Phillip Toney and Nicholas DiCarolis coming out on top.

With 100% of precincts reporting results and most write-in votes tallied, Toney had collected 36.8% of the votes counted, DiCarolis had 33.6% and challenger Randi Shank had 28.1%, according to unofficial results from the Westmoreland County Elections Bureau.

A total of 1,671 votes had been tallied, with Toney collecting 616, DiCarolis with 561 and Shank with 470, the results showed.

As the top two vote-getters, Toney and DiCarolis will face off against Chase Balla in the November general election. Balla ran unopposed on the Republican primary ticket.

Incumbent councilmen Todd Mentecki and Corey Pistinizi did not seek reelection.

Toney, 70, is retired after working 40 years at Municipal Sanitary Authority of the City of New Kensington. He said he seeks a council seat to continue New Kensington’s revitalization and wants to bring more retail stores into the city.

“I’d like to thank all the people who came out to vote,” Toney said. “I’m looking forward to this November in the general.”

He said he believes his passion for the city, experience on other boards and commissions and previous business experience were attractive to voters.

“I’m really honored the people chose me to represent the city,” Toney said. “Hopefully in November, we can come out on top and I look forward to help the city going forward in the right direction.”

DiCarolis, 36, an assistant principal in the Penn Hills School District, is wrapping up his first term on the New Kensington-Arnold School Board. During the campaign, DiCarolis prioritized making New Kensington attractive to young families and homebuyers and wants to continue business development and community engagement in the city.

Reached Thursday, DiCarolis thinks voters agreed with his plans for the city.

“I have a positive outlook with New Kensington,” he said. “We’ve experienced a ton of growth over the past 10 years and we want to see that continue, not slide or plateau.”

Shank, 66, is a prehospital care coordinator at Allegheny Health Network. He is also a member of the planning commission and a volunteer firefighter. He campaigned on growth and development citywide, addressing blighted properties and fixing city streets.

Mayor Tom Guzzo, a Democrat, ran for his seat unopposed. With all of precincts reporting, Guzzo had 97.3% of that vote — or 834 votes; there were 2.6%, or 23, write-ins.