Lower Saucon Township’s quiet council race Tuesday yielded a surprising result, when a newcomer to local politics unseated longtime incumbent council member and current council president Ron Horiszny.
Lower Saucon Township councilman-elect Ryan Stauffer (FILE PHOTO)
Ryan Stauffer, a Democrat who ran a relatively low-key campaign, was able to unseat Republican Horiszny by just nine votes, according to unofficial Northampton County election results, which show Horiszny having received 940 votes (or 32.26 percent of the total votes cast) and Stauffer having received 949 votes (32.57 percent of the total).
Horiszny ran with fellow incumbent Glenn Kern, a Republican who was the top vote-getter in Tuesday’s race, with 1,025 votes (35.18 percent of the vote total), according to the unofficial results.
Stauffer is an associate attorney specializing in commercial litigation at the law firm of Gross McGinley, LLP, and is a graduate of the University of California at Irvine School of Law, according to his LinkedIn profile, which indicates that he is a 2007 Muhlenberg College graduate and a Saucon Valley High School graduate.
He ran unopposed in the Democratic primary in May, and did not respond to the Northampton County League of Women Voters’ pre-election questionnaire.
Horiszny did not reply to the League questionnaire either, according to their website.
Kern, 61, is a 12-year member of council and previously served as council president for six years.
He said his focus as a councilman will be “maintaining the natural features and beauty of our township’s open space while keeping our township taxes low.”
“I have helped create and maintain our township’s open space policy,” he said. “The beauty of this policy is that not only has it preserved hundreds of acres our pristine woodlands and waterways, but the policy also naturally suppresses school taxes by limiting the need to expand school facilities. I will continue to endorse this policy.”
