YOUNGSTOWN — James Melone raised $35,579, including $12,376 in the final days of the primary election campaign, to emerge as the Democratic nominee for Struthers Municipal Court judge over incumbent Dominic R. Leone III.

Melone of Poland collected the $12,376 in the postprimary reporting period, April 13 to June 2, according to his campaign finance report. Most of the money he raised in the postprimary period came from an April 23 fundraiser.

His largest contribution in the period was $2,000 from Paranzino Enterprises Ltd. of North Lima.

Melone, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate, beat Leone, who was elected municipal court judge six years ago, 57.3 percent to 42.7 percent in the Democratic primary on May 3.

Melone spent $33,047 on his campaign, including $17,831 in the postprimary period. His biggest expenses in the postprimary period were $4,214 to City Printing of Youngstown for campaign mail, $3,000 to Danny Thomas Jr. of Struthers to be his campaign manager, $2,568 to 21 WFMJ-TV for television commercials and $1,500 to Cumulus Media for radio ads.

Melone had $2,532 in his campaign fund as of June 2.

He will face Republican Jennifer Ciccone of Poland in the Nov. 8 general election.

The court’s jurisdiction is Struthers, Lowellville, New Middletown, Springfield Township and Poland village and township.

Leone has yet to file his postprimary report with the county board of elections.

Leone was late with his preprimary report, which showed he raised $2,000 between Jan. 1 and April 12, with $1,200 coming from him, and spent $1,840. Leone had his biggest fundraiser for the campaign shortly after the postprimary period began, but hasn’t turned in a report to the board of elections.

YOUNGSTOWN COUNCIL

The only other contested primaries on the May 3 ballot in Mahoning County were Democratic ones for Youngstown city council seats in the 2nd, 5th and 6th Wards.

All candidates in contested primaries had to submit postprimary reports even if they didn’t raise or spend any money.

Only the two candidates in the 6th Ward and Carie Watson, who lost the 5th Ward primary, filed reports with the elections board.

The 6th Ward primary ended in a 223-223 tie with incumbent Councilwoman Anita Davis declared the winner after Janet Tarpley, who challenged her, lost a coin flip.

Davis, who ran a self-funded campaign, gave $5,000 to her campaign in the preprimary period and raised nothing in the postprimary period. Her lone postprimary expense was $468 to Atlas Sign Group in Liberty for banners.

Tarpley raised $1,650 in the postprimary period and $5,375 in the preprimary period.

Her largest contributor in the postprimary was David Bozanich of Boardman, who gave $500.

Bozanich, the former Youngstown finance director, spent about 11 months in a state prison for his involvement in a public corruption scandal.

Bozanich was convicted Aug. 7, 2020, in a plea deal to one felony count each of bribery and tampering with records and two misdemeanor counts of unlawful compensation of a public official. He originally was charged with 18 felonies in an Aug. 30, 2018, indictment.

Tarpley spent $2,105 in the postprimary period with her largest expense being $567 to the Youngstown Letter Shop for campaign mailings.

With carryover, Tarpley had $1,629 in her account as of June 2 compared with $110 for Davis.

Incumbent Pat Kelly got 75.5 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary for the 5th Ward seat. He didn’t file a postprimary report. He ran a self-funded campaign giving $10,000 out of his pocket during the preprimary period.

Watson gave $55 to her campaign in the postprimary period. She raised $900 in the preprimary cycle with $150 coming from her.

In the 2nd Ward Democratic primary, incumbent Councilman Jimmy Hughes beat Ra’Cole Taltoan 57.8 percent to 42.2 percent. Neither filed postprimary reports.

REPUBLICANS OUTRAISE DEMS

The county Republican Party had almost four times more cash in its fund as of June 3 than the county Democratic Party.

The Republican Party raised $9,292 in the postprimary period with state Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, contributing $5,500 of it.

The Democratic Party received $4,222 in the postprimary period with the largest contributor being Samie Winick of Salem with $1,275.

In the postprimary cycle, the Republicans spent $3,279 to $1,557 for the Democrats.

As of June 2, the Republican Party had a $47,418 cash surplus compared with $12,674 for the Democratic Party.