Westmoreland Democrats to select new leader

After weeks of delay caused by the litigation over the results of the May primary, Westmoreland County Democrats once again are set to elect a new party chairperson.

Democrats are scheduled to convene tonight at Hempfield Park for their reorganization meeting to select a replacement for committee chairwoman Tara Yokopenic, who announced this year she would not seek a second term as leader of the county’s minority party.

Two women active in the local political scene, Michelle McFall of Murrysville and Ceil Kessler of Greensburg, have announced bids to be the chairwoman.

McFall, 53, serves as the chairwoman of the Murrysville-Delmont Democratic Committee. A former school teacher, she has spearheaded several local campaigns and has been active in state Democratic politics.

Kessler, 51, an active member of Voice of Westmoreland, works as a data analyst and sits as the chairwoman of the party’s District 7 committee that includes Greensburg, Hempfield and Jeannette.

A legal dispute over vote totals in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate led to a delay by the Westmoreland County Board of Elections in certifying final results for races to fill seats in the county’s Democratic and GOP committees. Democrats said they required certified results before the committee could meet to elect a new party chair.

Yokopenic, then the committee’s treasurer, was elevated to the Democratic committee’s top spot in 2020 after the resignation of the party’s chairwoman and vice chair. She was elected by committee members months later to finish out the last two years of the term.

In a message to committee members released last week, Yokopenic said she expected “staunch partisanship” to remain but is hopeful Democrats are ready to rebound in Westmoreland County.

“No candidate can successfully run for office without solid infrastructure. Think of it as a road, and the Westmoreland County Democratic Committee is building that road,” Yokopenic said.

Though Democrats once were the dominant political force in Westmoreland County, Republicans hold a 25,000 edge in the number of registered voters and hold nearly every state and countywide elected office.

As of this spring there are nearly 120,000 registered Republicans in the county, representing more than 48% of voters. Democratic registration dropped to just more than 95,000 and accounts for almost 39% of county voters.