Staff photo / R. Michael Semple Pat Kelly of Youngstown, seeking the 5th Ward council seat, keeps an eye on his phone for election results on Tuesday. Kelly was appointed to fill the seat on Jan. 7 and was being challenged by Carie Watson, who also had sought to fill the vacancy. Kelly won his race Tuesday night.

YOUNGSTOWN –Former Youngstown Councilwoman Janet Tarpley was ahead by a mere three votes over two-term incumbent Anita Davis in the 6th Ward’s Democratic primary.

Tarpley was winning 223 to 220, according to unofficial results Tuesday from the Mahoning County Board of Elections.

The current margin of victory is 0.68 of a percent, which if it holds up would not be subject to an automatic recount.

Still waiting to be counted are any provisional or late arriving absentee ballots.

Davis, a retired Youngstown police detective sergeant, was seeking her third four-year term on council. Tarpley, who worked for more than 30 years at Mahoning County Juvenile Court before her 2018 retirement, couldn’t run for a third term in 2015 because the city’s term limits law at the time prohibited it. The law was repealed in 2018 and then reinstated by voters in 2022 to take effect with this year’s election.

The two other incumbent council members who faced Democratic challengers will advance to the general election.

Council members Jimmy Hughes, D-2nd Ward, and Pat Kelly, D-5th Ward, were successful in Tuesday’s Democratic primary, according to unofficial results.

Hughes and Kelly — as well as the winner of the 6th Ward Democratic primary — had independent candidates file to challenge them in the Nov. 7 general election. The board of elections has to certify the validity of the nominating petitions of independents, who filed by Monday’s deadline.

In the 2nd Ward primary, Hughes, a retired Youngstown police chief, again beat Ra’Cole Taltoan, owner and partner of Rockbrook Business Services.

Hughes won 57.6 percent to 42.4 percent, according to unofficial results. Hughes, running for his second two-year term, beat Taltoan in the Democratic primary four years ago with 74 percent of the vote with a much larger turnout.

“Not enough voters came out this time; a lot fewer than the last time,” Hughes said. “But I’m excited I won. I’m going to continue moving ahead with the progress I’ve been making. I’ll do the same thing in the general election and do the best possible work for my constituents. I’m focused on continuing the job.”

In the 5th Ward’s Democratic primary, Kelly, director of security for the Youngstown school district, defeated Carie Watson, a teacher at Youngstown Community School, 75 percent to 25 percent, according to unofficial results Tuesday.

“I’d like to thank my opponent for running a clean race,” Kelly said. “I thank everyone who voted for me and for those that didn’t vote for me, I’ll work to get their vote in November.”

Kelly added: “It’s exciting to win my first race. We have six more months until the next race.”

Kelly, a former Campbell police chief and retired Youngstown police detective sergeant, was selected Jan. 7 by county Democratic central committee members in his ward to fill the unexpired term of Lauren McNally, who resigned in December to take a seat in the Ohio House of Representatives.

Watson also had applied for the vacancy.

The four other members of council: Julius Oliver, D-1st Ward; Samantha Turner, D-3rd Ward; Mike Ray, D-4th Ward; and Basia Adamczak, D-7th Ward; ran unopposed for re-election in the Democratic primary.

Oliver and Adamczak will face Republican opposition in the Nov. 7 general election.

The only council member without a challenger in the general election is Turner.

Independent candidates filed to challenge the other six members of council.

Oliver and Adamczak will also face Republican opposition in the Nov. 7 general election.

Richard Atkinson was the last Republican elected to city council in 2003 while Herman Hill was the last independent to win a council seat was in 1995. They both served the city’s 3rd Ward.