Democrats Hunter Gress and Chad Heimbecker won four-year seats on Lower Saucon Township Council Tuesday in a seemingly decisive victory which means Democrats will most likely occupy all five council seats at the beginning of next year.

According to unofficial Northampton County election results, Gress received 2,271 votes and Heimbecker received 2,259 votes to win the seats, beating Republicans Cheyenne Reiman, who received 1,882 votes, and Donna Louder, who received 1,876 votes.

Gress and Heimbecker will replace outgoing Republican councilmen Jason Banonis and Tom Carocci, who did not seek re-election.

“(One hundred percent of) precincts reporting and the results show our Township, our County and our Commonwealth are NOT FOR SALE!” Heimbecker wrote on the Friends of Chad Heimbecker Facebook page Tuesday night. “Money doesn’t vote, signs don’t vote…people vote! Hunter Gress for Lower Saucon Township Council and I both ran grassroots campaigns on shoestring budgets against a $130,000 PAC…and the people saw through the fear-mongering, toxicity, lies and deception. … I am grateful to everyone who supported me and showed up to make their voice heard. Thank you.”

If the unofficial totals are certified, they will join Laura Ray, Victoria Opthof-Cordaro and Priscilla deLeon on council in early January.

In an apparent reference to campaign ads for the Republican slate of candidates purchased by a political action committee (PAC) associated with the company that owns Bethlehem Landfill in Lower Saucon Township, along with Heimbecker, other prominent local Democrats also posted on Facebook that “Lower Saucon is not for sale” in the wake of Tuesday’s election.

A proposed 200-acre landfill expansion near the Lehigh River has proven controversial due to environmental and other concerns, and is the subject of an ongoing court case regarding easements opponents of the expansion argue were illegally released by council in 2023.

Other local election results

Democrats also fared well in the race for four Saucon Valley School Board seats. According to the county’s unofficial results, newcomers Meghan Lomangino and J. Christian Tatu, along with cross-filed Democrat-Republican incumbents Cedric Dettmar and Shamim Pakzad, defeated Republicans J. Barrett Geyer and Lynn Kasper to win four-year terms on the nine-member board. Lomangino was the top vote-getter, with 3,462 votes, followed by Dettmar (3,399), Tatu (3,335) and Pakzad (3,268), according to Tuesday’s unofficial results.

In Hellertown, Democrat Larry O’Donnell was the top vote-getter in a non-competitive race for four council seats, receiving 1,132 votes. Democrats Cathy Leibensperger and incumbent Tom Rieger received 1,128 votes and 1,112 votes, respectively, and Democrat/Republican incumbent Gail Nolf received 1,106 votes, according to the unofficial results. O’Donnell and Nolf–who also previously served on council–were recently appointed to fill council vacancies. Democrat Matthew Ward was elected to a two-year term on borough council after running unopposed in a special election to fill a vacancy created by a resignation.

Hellertown mayor David Heintzelman, a Democrat who ran unopposed, was elected to a third term with 1,350 votes, according to unofficial results.

At the county level, Democrat Tara Zrinski defeated Republican Tom Giovanni to win the Northampton County Executive’s race, garnering more than 59 percent of the vote according to the unofficial results. Zrinski will replace outgoing Democratic county executive Lamont McClure, who is running for Congress in the 7th District, which includes most of the Lehigh Valley.

Democrats also swept the race for five county council seats, according to unofficial results, with incumbent councilwoman Lori Vargo Heffner of Lower Saucon Township (49,833 votes), David Holland (49,676), Jason Boulette (48,260), Theresa Fadem of Hellertown (48,260) and Nadeem Qayyum (44,915) defeating Republicans Sam Elias (35,340), John P. Goffredo (34,880), Daniel Campo (34,670), John Brown (34,556) and Juan E. Martinez (33,052). Fadem is a former Hellertown Borough Council member who resigned from her seat earlier this year to accept a position as the borough’s zoning and codes enforcement officer.

According to the Northampton County Election Division office, voter turnout in Tuesday’s election was approximately 40 percent, with a total of 91,622 ballots cast from among 229,230 registered voters in the county.

According to county officials, Tuesday’s election results will be official once they are certified by the Northampton County Election Commission. Certification is scheduled to take place during a public meeting in Easton on Tuesday, Nov. 18.