WILKES-BARRE, Pa. — Republicans are expecting a stronger majority in the Luzerne County Courthouse now that voters have spoken, turning out especially for Republicans running for county council.
Pittston firefighter John Lombardo got the most votes.
"I'm really excited and really humbled by the amount of support that I've gotten. To come in first place is really a testament to the amount of prominence that I think I'm going to have, as you know, my opinion on council. And so the amount of hard work that I put into my campaign, my team put in, so I'm really excited to serve," Lombardo said.
Lombardo says he's looking forward to working with municipal leaders to move Luzerne County forward.
"To make Luzerne County not just a great place to live, but a great place to stay."
Lombardo thinks the results are about a lot more than just Republicans showing up to vote.
"Because there's a lot of angry sentiment in the country right now, with the way that things are going as far as the President of the United States, and you know, the economy, and all those other things."
Justin Behrens, the Luzerne County Republican Chairman, agrees.
"I don't think this is a Republican election. I don't think this is a Democratic election. I think that this is the people of Luzerne County are angry at the president. That's going on right now. And everything that's being changed. So this has nothing to do with party. This has to do with 100 percent people are angry, frustrated, and they want change," said Behrens.
Behrens also points out the sentiment shown by voters in this general election was in direct opposition to the last, where Democrats took home the most victories.
"This is actually the reverse in this election. We actually saw the mail-in ballots in the very beginning. We saw the spread between Democrat and Republican people were concerned, saying, 'Oh, how are the Republicans going to be able to get back from this mail-in ballot?' Hands down, I had no fear. We actually knew that we were going to come back that people spoke again. And we knew that the message was sent," said Behrens.
"I've been saying to everybody to be very humble about this because we have a lot of work to do to prove that we're capable of the job that we were tasked with," said Lombardo.
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