{"id":31026,"date":"2025-11-11T12:24:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T12:24:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/31026\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T12:24:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T12:24:06","slug":"for-this-lehigh-county-township-nov-4-election-results-prove-historic-armchair-lehigh-valley","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/31026\/","title":{"rendered":"For this Lehigh County township, Nov. 4 election results prove historic | Armchair Lehigh Valley"},"content":{"rendered":"

Armchair Lehigh Valley content is published on lehighvalleylive.com<\/a> as part of a partnership with the website, which aims to give voters nonpartisan factual information. Armchair Lehigh Valley is run by publisher Katherine Reinhard and editor Robert H. Orenstein. For more information, or to subscribe at armchairlehighvalley.substack.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Democrats won three seats on the Lower Macungie Board of Commissioners, defeating two incumbents and turning the five-seat governing board blue.<\/p>\n

Melissa Bosak, Stefanie Rafes and Wesley Barrett achieved something else.<\/p>\n

The trio appear to have become the first Democrats to be elected as a commissioner, or supervisor as they were formally known, in more than a half century.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy understanding is that a Democrat hasn\u2019t been elected commissioner since 1964,\u201d Bosak said in an email.<\/p>\n

Ron W. Beitler, a Lehigh County commissioner who previously served on the township board, confirmed the year was 1964 but said, \u201cWe\u2019ve been having trouble finding the name\u201d of the official.<\/p>\n

Barret, Bosak and Rafes defeated Republicans Brian Higgins, who had been seeking his fourth term on the board; Brian Shoemaker, who wanted a second term; and newcomer Matthew Guglielmello. Incumbent Republican Rich Ward chose not to seek reelection.<\/p>\n

A total of 392 votes separated Bosak, who placed third, from Higgins, who finished fourth.<\/p>\n

Lower Macungie has a +4.36% Republican edge in voter registration while Lehigh County is +7.9% Democratic, according to an analysis by The Morning Call.<\/a><\/p>\n

Democratic candidates hadn\u2019t been trying to make inroads in the township of about 32,462 residents. A review of past elections shows there hasn\u2019t been a Democrat on the Lower Macungie ballot since 2011 when Robert Sharpe ran unsuccessfully.<\/p>\n

Barrett said he discovered one Democrat was among five residents who were appointed by a Lehigh County judge to the board in 2008 to serve until December 2009. At the time, the township had transitioned from a second class to a first class township, going from three supervisors to five commissioners.<\/p>\n

Appointee Deana Zosky, who was a Democrat at the time, ran for a full four-year term in 2009 but did not win. She is now a Republican, state voting data shows.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just enjoy the history and what it shows about how our township has evolved over time. Local government shouldn\u2019t be political. We\u2019re neighbors and volunteers working to improve our community. Fixing a sewer system or adding a stop sign isn\u2019t partisan work,\u201d Barrett said in an email.<\/p>\n

Rafes said voters asked her why the board didn\u2019t have any Democrats. \u201cI never had a good answer other than nobody has attempted to run,\u201d said Rafes, a physician assistant who ran unsuccessfully in the 187th House District race against Republican Gary Day last year.<\/p>\n

For this election year, Lehigh County Democrats made an effort to field credentialed candidates against Republicans in places like Lower Macungie.<\/p>\n

Rafes said their win \u201cwould not have happened without the amount of door knocking that the three of us did. We have been out knocking on doors all year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beitler, a Republican who was unopposed in his bid for reelection to the county\u2019s District 2 seat, said he was \u201csuper disappointed\u201d by Higgins\u2019 and Shoemaker\u2019s losses even as he had supported Barrett, who is chair of the township Planning Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew they had to work to keep their seats because of the national temperature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very clear folks were angry about completely unrelated national issues,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are two candidates that got caught up with the ebb and flow of national politics despite outstanding performance over the last four years.\u201d<\/p>\n

As she reflects on her win, Bosak said she\u2019s happy the board will have women representatives. The last time that happened was in 2008 when Zosky was joined by Julianna Timmcke on the appointed board. Timmcke, who is a Republican, did not seek a full-term on the board in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur township is diverse, and by electing three Democrats and two women, the board is now more representative of our community,\u201d Bosak, a project engineer, said in an email.<\/p>\n

Said Rafes, \u201cI am just truly honored that the voters have put their faith in myself, Wesley and Melissa. I\u2019ve gotten to know them pretty well this year, and I know all three of us are thoughtful, responsible, and will serve with integrity and care.\u201d<\/p>\n

Barrett said he is looking forward to finding ways to connect the township\u2019s more than 1,000 acres of open space to surrounding neighborhoods with trails and paths.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be another great step forward for the township,\u201d Barrett said.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Armchair Lehigh Valley content is published on lehighvalleylive.com as part of a partnership with the website, which aims…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,121,120],"class_list":{"0":"post-31026","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-allentown","8":"tag-allentown","9":"tag-allentown-headlines","10":"tag-allentown-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31026","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}