While 15 candidates sought to replace Don Manning as the Ohio House 59th District representative, four likely will receive serious consideration.

Based on conversations I’ve had with those involved in the process, the top four candidates appear to be:

• Joseph P. Alessi of North Lima, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who did exceptionally well during his interview with the six-member screening committee of Ohio House Republicans.

• Holly A. Deibel of North Lima, one of the early favorites. Along with her husband, she owns Boardman Steel, a structural steel company, and is a former Mahoning Valley Republican Women’s Club president who has been involved for several years with Republican politics.

• Perry Alexandrides Jr. of Poland, a regional liaison for the Ohio auditor’s office. He’s well-connected in state Republican politics and previously served as a regional liaison for the secretary of state’s office and as an Ohio Republican Party regional director.

• Alessandro Cutrona of Canfield, an attorney at an Independence law firm and chief operating officer for Northeastern Ohio Infectious Disease Association in Youngstown.

There are conflicting reports on how fast the full Ohio House Republican Caucus will act on choosing a successor to Manning, who died March 20.

Some say it could be any day now and others say the screening committee could bring in the top candidates in for a second interview. It appears Republicans are doing further vetting on some of the top candidates.

Manning was almost 15 months into his first two-year term in the Ohio House when he died unexpectedly at the age of 52.

The person selected to replace him would fill out the remainder of Manning’s term, which runs through Dec. 31.

Also, the county Republican Party’s Central Committee has to select his replacement to appear on the November general election ballot. That person definitely will be whoever House Republicans choose for the unexpired term.

The 59th District has become more conservative over time and Manning would have almost certainly retained the seat in November. The district includes Boardman, Canfield, Poland, Sebring, Beaver and most of the rural parts of Mahoning County.

But with Manning no longer the candidate, the seat could be up for grabs.

Even though Manning won in 2018 by only 375 votes over Poland Trustee Eric C. Ungaro, he had raised a solid amount of money for his re-election campaign and his quick rise in the House led several well-known Democrats to decide not to challenge him.

Chris Stanley of Canfield, a Youngstown city school teacher and author who has never run for political office before, ended up being the party’s choice. He ran unopposed in the Democrat primary after Chuckie Denison of Craig Beach filed, but was disqualified for not having enough valid signatures.

With Manning’s passing, Democrats could convince Stanley to get out of the race and replace him with a stronger candidate.

But Democratic Chairwoman Joyce Kale-Pesta said the party has no plans to do that.

“He won the primary and I haven’t received any indication that he wants to pull out,” she said of Stanley. “I don’t abandon my candidates. I’m happy with him.”

When the 15 Republican candidates seeking to succeed Manning were announced, the county Democratic Party’s official Facebook page blasted them as “losers.”

Kale-Pesta responded to the post writing that she didn’t agree with it and that it was inappropriate to call anyone a loser.

She told me Leo Jennings, a longtime local political consultant, runs the party’s Facebook page as a holdover from when David Betras was chairman. Kale-Pesta said she never got around to replacing Jennings.

But she said it was Jennings who wrote the post — he also wrote a response using his name to defend it.

Kale-Pesta said she had Jennings take down the post.

“Some (of the Republican candidates) are qualified and some are not qualified, but I don’t want to hurt people and I’m not calling anybody names or a loser,” she said.

Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com