Primary Election Results: State College Mayor

This report will be updated as more results become available.

With all precincts partially reporting, Ezra Nanes is leading Jim Leous in the Democratic primary for State College mayor.

As of 11:25 p.m. on Tuesday, Nanes had 1,568 votes (65.8%) to Leous’s 815 (34.2%). There was one write-in vote.

According to the Centre County Elections Office, all in-person votes have been tabulated from each of the county’s 87 precincts, but countywide about 2,000 mail ballots remain to be counted. Processing of those ballots will resume at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.

The vote total in the State College mayoral primary has already surpassed the 2017 primary by about 200 votes.

With no candidate on the Republican ballot, one of the Democratic candidates can secure the GOP nomination as the top vote-getter with at least 10 write-in votes. So far, 186 write-in votes were cast for State College mayor on Republican ballots, though the names are not yet available.

Nanes is director of business development at AccuWeather and a former state Senate candidate. He launched his campaign with a commitment to “strong, empathetic leadership, constructive and unifying public discourse,” and responsive governance.

Leous is a three-term member of the State College Area School Board and works in the the Office of the Associate CIO for Research at Penn State. In announcing his campaign, he said the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact, as well as “the fraying of our community” and a “divided country,” require local solutions.

The winner of November’s election will succeed Mayor Ron Filippelli who was appointed by borough council in December 2019 when former Mayor Don Hahn stepped down after being elected magisterial district judge with two years remaining in his term. 

Filippelli is running for State College Borough Council.

The mayor of State College, who receives a salary of $13,000 a year, is elected to a four-year term. The mayor does not vote on any action of council, but can veto or approve ordinances and presides over council meetings.

Election results are unofficial until certified by the Board of Elections. The deadline to certify is June 7.