WILKES-BARRE -- The city of Wilkes-Barre will be getting a new mayor. Current three-term mayor Tom Leighton is stepping down.
Democratic nominee Tony George addressed his supporters after winning a tight election Tuesday night, saying, “We were outspent, but we were not outworked.”
George is the former police chief of Wilkes-Barre.
The theme of his campaign was “law and order.”
He’s been a consistent critical of Mayor Leighton’s handling of Wilkes-Barre’s growing problem of violent crime and he promised to fight crime the way the city did when he was police chief.
“We had the broken window theory. If the window was broken, you would fix it. You don’t let it fester. You saw what happened. They let it expand, but we will fix it,” George said.
Wilkes-Barre city councilman George Brown was gracious in defeat in a close race.
“I want to thank everyone that worked on our campaign. You guys did a wonderful job,” Brown said.
Brown was a close ally of the outgoing mayor. Tony George says his win shows Wilkes-Barre is clearly ready for a change.
George will face Republican challenger Frank Sorick, the president of the Wilkes-Barre taxpayers association, in the November.
