Republican sweep in Irwin mayor, council races

Irwin voters opted for experience in Tuesday’s election when they voted for members of council, but not for mayor, according to unofficial results.

In the mayoral race, retired state prison guard Jeff Clem, 62, running on the Republican ballot, topped four-term council member Gail Macioce, 68, a Republican who won a spot on the Democratic ticket in the primary, with 55% of the vote to Macioce’s 44%.

Mayor William Hawley decided not to run for a second term.

Council race

The Republicans won a clean sweep on council, as council members Ronald Romeo, 62, Frank Rossi Jr., 64, and Leslie Savage, 52, each won reelection to a second term and were joined by newcomer Tyler Baum, 23, who also won a write-in campaign on the Democratic ballot in his first bid for office. Baum led all candidates with 20.6% of the vote, followed by Savage with 17.2%; Romeo, 16.7%; and Rossi, 16.1%, according to unofficial results. All seats were for four-year terms on council.

Democrats Nicholas Powanda, 35, received 15% of the votes and Courtney Khalouf-Rahuba, 18, received 13.7%. Both were running for political office for the first time.