GOP primary: Results hold for Chester candidates in final vote count

Election night results held steady for the Chester candidates in the Republican primary after the board of elections counted all the absentee ballots and affidavits.

The challengers running for Chester town council, and the incumbent running for re-election in the supervisors’ race, won the primary held June 27.

Supervisor Robert Valentine won the Republican ballot line for this November’s general election. He beat challenger Robert Courtenay, who is currently serving on the town board. Valentine’s count bumped up by three since election night, for a final tally of 265. Courtenay got two extra votes, for a total of 225.

Valentine will face Democrat Brandon Holdridge in November. He is running on the Conservative line as well. Holdridge also has a second ballot line after winning the Working Families endorsement.

Challengers win

Joseph Betro and Patricia Gorman will run on the GOP line to fill two vacant seats on the town council. Longtime council member Cindy Smith lost her bid in the primary, as did challenger Giuseppe Cassara.

Gorman’s tally increased by four, for a total of 270. She is also running on the Conservative ballot line. Betro won two extra votes, for a final tally of 260.

Smith, won three additional votes, for a total of 205. Cassara was up by one, with a total of 182.

Two Democrats are running for the two open board seats: former board member Tom Becker and Larry Dysinger, who ran unsuccessfully for a seat in 2021. Tyler Hassan is running on the Working Families line.