The votes are in: Dan Tinney greets supporters while waiting for election results at Steamfitters on Tuesday evening. In the race for seven at-large City Council seats, Tinney finished ninth. MARIA S. YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
Al Taubenberger gave five concession speeches in five previous runs for office, but Tuesday night was a lot different.
Shortly after 10 p.m., Taubenberger stood in the foyer of Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 to deliver a victory speech.
“We won,” he shouted.
While Taubenberger, of Fox Chase, was winning an at-large City Council seat, fellow Republican Denny O’Brien, of Millbrook, appeared to have lost his seat.
Meanwhile, former City Councilman Jim Kenney was overwhelmingly elected mayor, defeating four other candidates.
Statewide, Common Pleas Court Judge Kevin Dougherty, a Pine Valley resident, was the leader among seven candidates seeking three seats on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, with about 90 percent of the votes counted.
Here is a closer look at all the races on the ballot:
• Council at-large: In the hotly contested race for seven at-large City Council seats, the five Democrats cruised to victory, as expected. The sixth and seventh seats were won by Republican incumbent David Oh and Taubenberger. O’Brien trailed Taubenberger for the final spot by 445 votes with 97.86 percent of the vote counted.
DJ Joe Driscoll played For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow and You Can Call Me Al as Taubenberger took the microphone.
“We’re going to City Hall,” Taubenberger said.
Taubenberger, former president of the Greater Northeast Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, previously lost two bids for Congress and races for mayor, state representative and Council.
“Every defeat was a learning experience,” he said.
The councilman-elect thanked his family, his campaign team of Lou Feinberg, Chris Wright, Fred Hess, Aizaz Gill, Gary Grisafi, Mark Wuller and Frank Keel and his longtime buddy Jack Kelly, a former councilman.
“Al worked his butt off,” Kelly said. “Al is well known. A lot of people saw him as a bright guy who could do a lot for the city of Philadelphia.”
Taubenberger said he is “as happy as I’ve ever been in my life.”
O’Brien gathered with supporters at the Cottage Green, on Ashton Road.
The early results were looking good for the longtime state representative and former House speaker.
Challenger Taubenberger seemed to have a solid lead among the five Republican and four third-party/independent candidates, while O’Brien was still several hundred votes ahead of fellow incumbent Oh for the second and last minority party seat.
Yet as the night wore on, Oh mounted a strong, steady charge — first surpassing O’Brien for second, then passing Taubenberger for the top minority party position.
O’Brien and his supporters monitored the returns on their mobile devices until about 10:35 p.m., with more than 95 percent of precincts tallied and O’Brien slipping further behind, the candidate gave brief parting remarks to the group.
O’Brien stopped short of conceding, but did acknowledge that the city’s daily papers had already declared the race for Oh and Taubenberger.
“I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. It’s been a long day. It’s been a tough campaign. But the one thing that I’m very proud of everybody in this room is we kept it positive. We’ve always been pathologically optimistic. And I’m pathologically optimistic about everything moving forward. Thank you very much,” O’Brien said.
By about 11:20 p.m., with almost 98 percent of precincts counted, O’Brien stood at 33,614 votes. Oh had 34,220, followed by Taubenberger with 34,064.
O’Brien told the Northeast Times that the prevalence of Northeast Republicans in the at-large race (three including Dan Tinney) was one of multiple factors that contributed to the outcome.
“I think there were a lot of factors. A lot of negative campaigning. But we’re proud of what we do. We always have a positive message and we’ll continue from here. We’ll see what the results are in the morning and take it from there,” said O’Brien, who added that he had not begun to contemplate his future.
“We had a usual, wonderful response from everybody in the Northeast, everywhere we went. So it just looked really, really good. But we’re running citywide and you can’t control everything that happens. And labor, there were a lot of different alliances there that weren’t there before. … It’s always different. Every election is different.”
Democrats Helen Gym, Derek Green, Allan Domb, Blondell Reynolds Brown and Bill Greenlee took the top five spots in the 14-candidate field.
Republicans Tinney and Terry Tracy finished ninth and 10th, respectively.
Tinney, an Our Lady of Calvary and Archbishop Ryan graduate, took in results at Steamfitters Local 420, on Townsend Road. He addressed supporters at 9 p.m., calling the campaign “a great ride.”
City Councilman Brian O’Neill and union leader Joe Ashdale were on hand.
“He’s a fresh face, very likable and smart,” said O’Neill, who was unopposed.
Tinney, 33, said, “I’m happy with the campaign I ran. I’m young. I can run again in four years.”
Independent Andrew Stober placed 11th, followed by the Green Party’s Kristin Combs, independent Sheila Armstrong and the Socialist Workers Party’s John Staggs.
• Mayor: Kenney, a Democrat who served 23 years on Council, captured 85 percent of the vote. He made campaign stops Tuesday at polling places at Chalfont Playground and J. Hampton Moore Elementary School before celebrating his victory at the National Museum of American Jewish History.
“I want a lot of things for our children, but, most of all, I want them to grow up in a Philadelphia where we all look past our differences and join together to create a better place for all of us to live,” he said.
Republican Melissa Murray Bailey finished with 13 percent of the vote. She watched the vote totals at the United Republican Club after a whirlwind of election day campaigning in the Northeast at polling places at J. Hampton Moore, Pelbano Playground, Tacony Academy Charter School, Abraham Lincoln High School, Roosevelt Playground, George Washington High School, Anne Frank Elementary School, Fitzpatrick Playground and the Church of Grace of Fujianese.
Independents Jim Foster and Boris Kindij and the Socialist Workers Party’s Osborne Hart each received less than 1 percent of the vote.
• Supreme Court: Dougherty gathered with supporters at International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, in his native South Philadelphia.
The race consisted of three Democrats, three Republicans and an independent.
The apparent winners were Democrats Dougherty, David Wecht and Christine Donohue.
Republicans Judy Olson, Mike George and Anne Covey trailed, as did independent Paul Panepinto.
• 9th Councilmanic District: Democrat Cherelle Parker, a state representative, captured 91 percent of the vote. Republican Kevin Strickland took 8 percent, and independent Bobbie Curry received 1 percent. Parker will succeed Democrat Marian Tasco, who is retiring.
• Superior Court: The race featured two Common Pleas Court judges, Democrat Alice Beck Dubow of Philadelphia and Republican Emil Giordano of Northampton County. Dubow was leading with 54 percent of the vote.
• Commonwealth Court: The race was a battle of two Allegheny County attorneys, with Republican Paul Lalley and Democrat Michael Wojcik. Wojcik was leading with 53 percent of the vote.
• City elections commission: There were only three candidates for three seats. Democrats Anthony Clark and Lisa Deeley, who lives in Rhawnhurst, led the way, followed by Republican Al Schmidt.
Clark is the current chairman, but Schmidt will almost certainly vote for Deeley to become chairwoman over Clark, who has been criticized for missing votes and days at work.
• Register of Wills: Republican Ross Feinberg, of Rhawnhurst, put up a spirited fight against veteran incumbent Democrat Ron Donatucci, who won another term with 83 percent of the vote.
• Sheriff: Incumbent Democrat Jewell Williams defeated Republican Chris Sawyer, 79 percent to 21 percent.
• Common Pleas Court: The 12 winners were Democrats Ken Powell, Kai Scott, Tracy Roman, Abbe Fletman, Mia Roberts-Perez, Lyris Younge, Rainy Papademetriou, Scott DiClaudio, Daine Grey, Chris Mallios, Mike Fanning and Stephanie Sawyer.
• Municipal Court: There were only three candidates for three seats. Christine Hope was on both ballots and led the way, followed by Sharon Williams Losier and Joffie Pittman.
• Retention: The following Common Pleas Court judges were retained for another term: Gwendolyn Bright, Glenn Bronson, Ann Butchart, Matthew Carrafiello, Amanda Cooperman, Charles Cunningham, Idee Fox, Lisette Shirdan-Harris, Marlene Lachman, Patricia McInerney, Walter Olszewski, Frank Palumbo, Lillian Harris Ransom, Susan Schulman, Leon Tucker and John Milton Younge.
The following Municipal Court judges were retained for another term: Frank Brady, Pat Dugan, Barbara Gilbert, Charles Hayden, Gerry Kosinski, Marsha Neifield, Dawn Segal and Craig Washington. ••
Worth the wait: Al Taubenberger celebrates his victory in the fiercely contested at-large City Council race at Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 5 on Tuesday night. Taubenberger, of Fox Chase, has made five previous runs for office. MARIA S. YOUNG / TIMES PHOTO
