Democrats Hold Strong Lead in State College Borough Council Race

With three State College Borough Council up for election in 2021, the three Democratic candidates on the ballot held comfortable leads as of Tuesday night.

Gopal Balachandran, Divine Lipscomb and Richard Biever each had more than double the votes of Republican candidate Jacob Werner with all precincts partially reporting.

About 8,700 countywide mail-in ballots received by Election Day were included in the results on Tuesday night, according to Centre County Board of Commissioners Chair Michael Pipe. Remaining mail ballots received by 8 p.m. Tuesday will be counted on Wednesday.

State College Borough Council

Gopal Balachandran (D) 2,603

B. Divine Lipscomb (D) 2,482

Richard Biever (D) 2,477

Jacob R. Werner (R) 1,071

Write-ins 82

The three progressive, first time candidates ran together on the Central PA United slate.

Balachandran is an assistant professor of clinical law at Penn State and former public defender.

Lipscomb is a Penn State adult student, restorative justice advocate and founder of Corrective Gentleman, an alternatives to incarceration and reentry program.

Biever is the owner and director of FUSE Productions and Singing Onstage and an assistant professor of theater at Penn State.

Werner, also a first-time candidate, is an assistant professor of veterinary medicine and dairy and animal science and attending veterinarian for agricultural animals and wildlife at Penn State.

A registered Republican has not won a State College Borough Council seat since 2003.

The election for State College mayor was uncontested, with only Democrat Ezra Nanes on the ballot.

Nanes, director of business development at AccuWeather and a former state Senate candidate, had 2,805 votes as of Tuesday night. There were 140 write-ins.