Democrats Appear Victorious in Ferguson Township; More Centre Region Election Results

Ferguson Township is poised to have its first all-female Board of Supervisors following the 2021 municipal election.

With all precincts at least partially reporting late Tuesday night, Democrats Tierra Williams and incumbent Lisa Strickland held the lead for two at-large supervisor positions over Republicans Patti Higgins and Jeremie Thompson.

Democrat Hilary Caldwell held a 360-vote lead over Republican Robert Whitaker for the two-year interim Ward 2 supervisor position.

Williams, who will be the township’s first Black supervisor, declared victory in a statement on Wednesday and congratulated Strickland and Caldwell on winning.

“After a long, and difficult race, Ferguson residents voted for progressive change,” Williams said. “… . I would also like to thank Patti Higgins for a good run, and Jeremie Thompson for his honesty and integrity throughout this entire campaign despite the consequences.”

Higgins acknowledged the results of the hotly contested race in a Facebook post.

“Even though the end result is not what we hoped for, we made a huge impact,” Higgins wrote. “Ferguson Township can’t ignore the fact that its residents are not happy. Please don’t stop fighting to be heard!”

Caldwell, Strickland and Williams would join sitting supervisors Laura Dininni and Patricia Stephens on the five-member board.

Williams also congratulated “those who have made history” in the Centre Region following the election. State College, she noted, elected its first Jewish mayor in Ezra Nanes, first Indian-American council member in Gopal Balachandran and first Black formerly incarcerated council member in Divine Lipscomb, while Carline Crevecoeur was elected as the first Black member of the State College Area School Board

The race was a notably contentious one that saw the Centre County Republican Party pour money into campaign ads that denounced the township’s recently implemented stormwater fee (which Strickland voted against and Williams and Caldwell have said should be reviewed) and criticized Williams for past comments about policing and race. The Democratic candidates pushed back on those ads as “intentionally misleading and full of fallacious dog whistles.”

In the final weeks of the campaign, the county GOP rescinded its endorsement of Thompson after he says he “criticized their use of inflammatory language against another candidate,” and endorsed Strickland without her knowledge. Democrats also filed a complaint with the Centre County District Attorney’s Office because of signs and flyers for Republican candidates that did not include required information about who paid for them.

Elsewhere in the Centre Region, two incumbents were trailing in their bids for re-election in College and Halfmoon townships.

Republican incumbent Anthony Fragola was in third in the race for two College Township council seats, 374 votes out of second place. Democrat Danelle Del Corso was 119 votes behind Republican challenger Ronald Servello for Halfmoon Township supervisor.

Incumbents Franklin Harden and Dennis Hameister are the apparent winners for two Harris Township supervisor positions, while three Democrats — Sultan Magruder and incumbents Pamela Robb and Betsy Whitman — ran uncontested for Patton Township supervisor seats.

At the county level, elections were uncontested. Democrat Bernie Cantorna ran unopposed for a second term as district attorney; Democrat Shelley Thompson and Republican Hope Miller will return as jury commissioners; and Gregory Koehle will succeed the retiring Thomas Jordan as magisterial district judge for district 49-3-04.

Centre County received 10,881 mail-in ballots by 8 p.m. on Tuesday. About 8,700 were included in the unofficial vote totals posted by the Elections Office on Tuesday night. The remaining ballots were being counted on Wednesday.

Ferguson Township

At-large supervisor (2 seats)

Lisa Strickland (D) 2,918

Tierra D. Williams (D) 2,409

Patti Higgins (R) 2,111

Jeremie Thompson (R) 1,564

Write-ins 57

Ward 2 supervisor – Two-Year Interim (1 seat)

Hilary Caldwell (D) 1,183https://94c62fe3651e1d761a67ceaa1425fac2.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html

Robert A. Whitaker (R) 823

Write-ins 3

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College Township

Council (2 seats)

L. Eric Bernier (D) 1,723

Dustin Best (D) 1,574

Anthony Fragola (R) 1,200

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Halfmoon Township

Supervisor (1 seat)

Ronald B. Servello (R) 514

Danelle Del Corso (D) 395

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Harris Township

Supervisor (2 seats)

Dennis Hameister (D) 1,189

Franklin Harden (R) 1,032

Write-ins 481 (Tracey Moriarty ran a write-in campaign. Names and individual totals for write-in votes are not yet available)

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Patton Township

Supervisor — Six-year (1 seat)

Sultan Magruder (D) 2,164

Write-ins 26

Supervisor — Four-year interim (1 seat)

Pamela Robb (D) 2,197

Write-ins 24

Supervisor — Two-year interim (1 seat)

Betsy Whitman (D) 2,186

Write-ins 20