County row offices contested after quiet primary election

Tuesday’s municipal election will feature competitive races for county row offices after a pair of Republican challengers won write-in nominations during the primary and the ballot gained a special election for an unexpired county clerk of judicial records term.

The race to fill the remainder of former Democratic Clerk Mauri Kelly’s unexpired term running into early January 2028 features three candidates: Democratic incumbent Lauren Bieber Mailen, Republican Susanne Preambo Green and independent Colleen Eagen Gerrity, a longtime aide to former Democratic U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright whose listed party is “An Independent Democrat.”

Mailen, then records lieutenant at the Lackawanna County Prison, and Gerrity both sought appointments to the vacant clerk position in late summer pursuant to a process established by the county’s Home Rule Charter involving the Lackawanna County Democratic Committee and the judges of the county Court of Common Pleas. The committee advanced three candidates — Mailen, Gerrity and Taylor Mayor Loni Kavulich — for consideration by the county judges, who appointed Mailen.

The county Democratic Committee also nominated Mailen as the Democratic candidate in the special election, with the county Republican Committee nominating Green as the GOP candidate. Gerrity, who casts herself as “the real Democrat” in the race, filed to run for clerk of judicial records as an independent candidate in mid-September.



https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/2025/10/31/several-county-row-offices-contested-after-quiet-primary-election/