JAMESTOWN – Republicans ousted sitting Jamestown City Council President Gregory Rabb and picked up two seats on Election Day, changing the face of City Council to a slight, 5-4, edge for Democrats.
The current sitting council is 7-2 for the Democrats. In the at-large race, where voters elected three of the six candidates running. Incumbent Kimberly Ecklund (R) led the way with 2,398 votes (19.8 percent), with Vanessa Weinert (D) placing second with 1,954 votes (16.87).
The final at-large seat went to Andrew Liuzzo with 1,952 votes (16.85). Only 89 votes behind was candidate Michael Laurin with 1,863 votes (16.08). Rabb garnered 1,854 votes (16) percent and Robert Whitney Jr. tallied 1,424 votes (14.24).
In Ward races, there were only two contested for at least the third straight election cycle. In Ward 2, Incumbent Anthony Dolce (R) netted 535 votes (72.10) and challenger Joseph Scapelitte (D) won 205 votes (27.76). For Dolce this was a rematch from 2015 when he bested Scapelitte 405 to 164.
In the City’s Ward 4, incumbent Democrat Maria Carrubba had 615 votes (61.87) with her third straight victory over Richard Elardo (R) who received 377 votes. (37.92). In 2015, Carrubba won 454 to 246 over Elardo. In 2013, Carrubba won 610 to 429 over Elardo.
Running without opposition were Ward 1’s Brent Sheldon with 461 votes, Ward 3’s Victoria James with 260 votes, Ward 5’s Maria Jones with 534 votes and in Ward 6, Thomas Nelson received 449 votes.
All totals are unofficial and come from the Chautauqua County Board of Elections.
Correction: Andrew Liuzzo’s unofficial vote count was incorrectly reported due to reporter error. We regret this error.