{"id":16168,"date":"2015-11-04T10:14:25","date_gmt":"2015-11-04T15:14:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/?p=16168"},"modified":"2020-10-13T09:40:13","modified_gmt":"2020-10-13T13:40:13","slug":"chautauqua-county-legislature-to-see-few-changes-following-2015-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/chautauqua-county-legislature-to-see-few-changes-following-2015-election\/","title":{"rendered":"Chautauqua County Legislature to See Few Changes Following 2015 Election"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Jamestown<\/a>

Jamestown legislators David Wilfong (left) and Elisabeth Rankin both won reelection in their respective legislature seats. The two join 13 other Republicans who won legislature races on Election Day 2015.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

MAYVILLE – With only eight of 19 contested races in the Chautauqua County Legislature<\/strong>, there wasn’t expected to be much of a change, and that sentiment held true following the 2015 Elections, with only a handful of new faces joining the ranks of the legislature.<\/p>\n

FOUR NEW NAMES ADDED TO 19 MEMBER LEGISLATURE<\/strong><\/p>\n

The legislature will have just four new members starting in January, with only one incumbent being unseated in a contested race on Election Day.<\/p>\n

In District 2<\/strong>, challenger Robert Bankoski<\/strong> (D-Dunkirk) defeated incumbent Shaun Heenan<\/strong> (R-Dunkirk) 679 to 365.<\/p>\n

Two other newcomers were also elected after winning their respective contested races. In District 1<\/strong>, Kevin Muldowney<\/strong> (R-Dunkirk) defeated Democrat William Rivera<\/strong> (D-Dunkirk) 693 to 385. Muldowney will take the seat currently held by long-time legislator Keith Ahlstrom<\/strong> (D-Dunkirk), who did not seek reelection.<\/p>\n

And in District 7<\/strong>, Mark Odell<\/strong> (R-Portland) defeated David Wilkinson<\/strong> (D-Cassadaga) 653 to 289. Odell will take the seat vacated by outgoing legislator John Runkle<\/strong> (R-Stockton), who is not seeking reelection.<\/p>\n

The final newcomer is District 4<\/strong>‘s Christine Starks<\/strong> (D-Fredonia), who ran unopposed and will take over the seat held by legislator Janet Keefe<\/strong> (D-Fredonia), who also did not seek reelection.<\/p>\n

REPUBLICANS SWEEP REMAINING CONTESTED RACES<\/strong><\/p>\n

There were two contested legislature races in the Jamestown area, and both Republican incumbents won reelection. In District 11<\/strong> David Wilfong<\/strong> (R-Jamestown) defeated Robert Whitney<\/strong> (D-Jamestown) 347 to 305. In District 12<\/strong>, it was incumbent Elisabeth Rankin<\/strong> (R-Jamestown) defeating challenger Beth Kresge<\/strong> (D-Jamestown) 430 to 399. Both races were rematches from the 2013 election.<\/p>\n

Other incumbents being reelected despite having opposition on the ballet were Legislature Chairman and Jay Gould<\/strong> (R-Ashville, District 17<\/strong>), Bob Scudder<\/strong> (R-Fredonia, District 3<\/strong>) and Terry Niebel<\/strong> (R-Dunkirk, District 5).<\/p>\n

As a result of the elections, the GOP gained a seat in the legislature, strengthening its super-majority. Of the 19 members, 15 will be Republicans, 4 will be Democrats.<\/p>\n

WINNERS OF 2015 CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY LEGISLATURE ELECTIONS<\/strong><\/p>\n

D1: Kevin J. Muldowney (R-Dunkirk) (Won Contested Race)
\nD2: Robert Bankoski (D-Dunkirk) (Won Contested Race)
\nD3: Bob Scudder* (R-Fredonia) (Won Contested Race)
\nD4: Christine Starks (D-Fredonia)
\nD5: Terry Niebel* (R-Dunkirk) (Won Contested Race)
\nD6: George Borrello* (R-Irving)
\nD7: Mark Odell (R-Portland) (Won Contested Race)
\nD8: Pierre Chagnon* (R-Bemus Point)
\nD9: Charles Nazzaro* (D-Jamestown)
\nD10: Paul Wendell* (R-Lakewood)
\nD11: David Wilfong* (R-Jamestown) (Won Contested Race)
\nD12: Elisabeth Rankin* (R-Jamestown) (Won Contested Race)
\nD13: Paul Whitford* (D-Jamestown)
\nD14: Mark Tarbrake* (R-Jamestown)
\nD15: Lisa Vanstrom* (R-Jamestown)
\nD16: Ronald Lemon* (R-Frewsburg)
\nD17: Jay Gould* (R-Ashville) (Won Contested Race)
\nD18: David Himelein* (R-Findley Lake)
\nD19: John Hemmer* (R-Westfield)<\/p>\n

* – Incumbent<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A map of the legislative districts for Chautauqua County.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MAYVILLE – With only eight of 19 contested races in the Chautauqua County Legislature, there wasn’t expected to be much of a change, and that sentiment held true following the 2015 Elections, with only a handful of new faces joining the ranks of the legislature. FOUR NEW NAMES ADDED TO 19 MEMBER LEGISLATURE The legislature […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":16169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Chautauqua County Legislature to See Few Changes Following 2015 Election","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[4550,3960,253,259,431,5488,512,645,659,2490,4274,938,1183,1189,1263,1275,1336,5481,1445,5486,1513,1773,3027,1802,5483,1925,1944,2024,2557,5482],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/wilfong-rankin.jpg?fit=665%2C380&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3YlJ4-4cM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16168"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16168"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16172,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16168\/revisions\/16172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wrfalp.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}