Ron Fodor

SLIPPERY ROCK — Incumbent Slippery Rock Mayor Ron Fodor may have lost the Republican nomination in his bid for reelection, but it appears that a write-in victory will carry him to a place on the ballot this fall.

Reporting on Fodor’s apparent win is based on a Butler Eagle review of the unofficial results tape on display Wednesday at the Slippery Rock borough polling location. That tape shows that Fodor won 54 write-in votes in the Democratic primary election Tuesday — a vote total that would constitute a majority of the 90 write-in votes cast in the race, according to unofficial vote totals posted online by Butler County election officials.

The county’s vote tallies are unofficial and a review of write-in ballots won’t begin until Friday, said director of elections Sherri Brewer.

Fodor’s apparent Democratic primary win means he will once again face off with challenger Jon David Longo, a 26-year-old U.S. Marine Corps veteran who upset the incumbent mayor in the Republican primary by 23 votes, 120 to 97.

Fodor said he believed his write-in win was powered by many older residents of the borough.

“I’m happy. I’ve been involved in politics a long time, and I think a lot of seniors came out for me,” Fodor said. “I have the support of a lot of people in the town that had been there a long time.”

The campaign between Fodor and Longo has focused mainly on the two candidates’ competing ideas of how the borough’s mayor should conduct himself. Fodor has highlighted his years in public service and broad knowledge of the community, and said he intends to act as a consensus builder. Longo has pledged to be a more vocal mayor who injects his voice more often into council debates and works to make borough residents feel more empowered with their municipal government.