YOUNGSTOWN — Final results provided by the Mahoning County Board of Elections on Tuesday night showed one incumbent Democrat running for county commissioner won and another lost.

The elections board had released 100% of the vote by press time.

Commissioner Anthony Traficanti defeated GOP challengerJennifer Ciccone 53% to 47%, according to unofficial and incomplete results.

Republican Geno DiFabio defeated Democrat David Ditzler, 51% to 49%. Michael Ciccone won for clerk of courts over Daniel Dascenzo Boardman rejects levy for ambulance service 51% to 49%. Dan Yemma defeated Wade Calhoun for county treasurer 55% to 45%. Richard Scarsella defeated Noralynn Palermo for county recorder 52% to 48%.

DITZLER-DIFABIO

Ditzler, 66, of Austintown, a three-term county commissioner and former 19-year Austintown trustee, was leading DiFabio early in the race. But DiFabio, who also ran two years ago against Commissioner Carol Rimedio Righetti and barely lost that race, picked up enough votes late to overtake Ditzler.

Unofficial results from the Mahoning County Board of Elections had DiFabio with 53,868 votes to Ditzler’s 51,873.

DiFabio, 61, of Youngstown, portrayed the commissioners office under Ditzler, Rimedio Righetti and Traficanti as a three Democrat “kumbaya” because of the effort made by the three officeholders to avoid controversy and public criticism of each other. DiFabio called their 3-0 votes on nearly every item on their agenda at weekly public meetings a “rubber stamp.”

Ditzler agreed the three commissioners avoid public controversies, saying he lived through extraordinary upheaval in county government decades ago when an anti-tax group rose up and prevented the county from collecting enough revenue to maintain services, such as the county jail. He said the current board avoids the infighting seen in other counties, including Trumbull.

Ditzler said he and the two other commissioners “disagree on 50 percent of the things we ultimately move forward on. But you don’t battle in public.”

DiFabio also talked during his campaign about the $175,000 settlement the county approved to county maintenance worker Ricky Morrison after the county fired Morrison Dec. 2, 2022, and rehired him after his lawyers alleged his firing was retaliation for Morrison’s support of DiFabio in the 2022 election.

It was the one time when cracks in the Democrats’ cooperation surfaced, as Traficanti publicly split with the other two commissioners on facts related to the firing.

The Morrison controversy resurfaced again about a month ago when Republican Martin Desmond, a former county assistant prosecutor now private attorney, filed a petition in common pleas court asking for a special prosecutor to be appointed to determine whether high level county officials committed any wrongdoing in the Morrison matter.

A visiting judge was appointed, but he has not indicated yet whether he will appoint a special prosecutor.

TRAFICANTI-CICCONE

Traficanti defeated Jennifer Ciccone for the other county commissioner seat with 55,850 votes to her 51,873 according to incomplete and unofficial results.

Traficanti, 58, of Poland, is the county commissioner with the longest tenure of the three-member board of commissioners, having served in the position 20 years, five terms, beginning in 2005. He also is a real estate and trucking business owner.

Traficanti also worked 11 years in the office of former Valley Congressman James Traficant Jr., rising to chief of staff during the later part of Traficant’s political career.

Ciccone, 39, of Poland, is a private practice attorney who served as Struthers Municipal Court judge from Oct. 6, 2023, to Dec. 31, 2023, after being appointed to the position by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill an unexpired term.

Jennifer Ciccone told the Vindicator she was running for county commissioner to bring “fresh leadership and new energy to a role that has been held by the same individual for the last 20 years.”

She said, “I am running to provide change — to deliver dynamic leadership that will tackle issues such as economic growth, infrastructure improvements, and community development, with a focus on making Mahoning County a better place for all its residents.”