There will be challenges to the leadership of the Republican and Democratic parties in Trumbull County and a contested race for chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party.

There won’t be any issue with Mahoning County Republican Party Chairman Thomas McCabe’s re-election. He’s the only one who appears to be safe.

Trumbull GOP Chairman Kenneth Kline will face Martha Yoder, who also is running for county auditor, in his bid for re-election as chairman.

The Trumbull Republican leadership position has seen changes in recent years. Randy Law had the job taken from him in April 2017 by Kevin Wyndham in an internal party struggle. Wyndham led the party until his February 2021 resignation.

That led to the election of Kline, mayor of Newton Falls, for the remainder of Wyndham’s term, which expires in a couple weeks.

There’s been dissatisfaction with how Kline has led, resulting in the resignations of five party officers during his time as chairman. All five blamed Kline’s inability to lead.

Yoder has three of those five running on her slate of candidates with a fourth being Wyndham.

Yoder says the Republican Party, which has made gains in a county once dominated by Democrats, needs the right leadership to continue its success — and Kline isn’t up to the task.

Kline said he’s made advancements and the “party is in better shape now than when I took it over.”

Wyndham sees it differently, saying, “I am disappointed with the evolution of the party since my resignation and sad for those involved that have been made to feel marginalized or alienated in that time period.”

The Trumbull Republicans will meet June 10 to vote on the chair and other officers.

The Trumbull Democrats are planning to do the same June 7.

Chairman Dan Polivka, who has run the party since 2010, is seeking another four-year term.

Mark Alberini, chairman of the county board of elections, said he plans to challenge Polivka because the party has become stagnant and is losing ground to Republicans.

Alberini’s biggest obstacle is whether he’s eligible to seek the party chairman’s position. To be eligible to run, Alberini must be a member of the party’s central committee.

Bill DeMora, Ohio Democratic Party secretary, said the county party bylaws state principal officers — chair, first vice chair and secretary — have to be central committee members. While Alberini isn’t currently an elected central committee member, Polivka appointed him among the 50 the chairman gets to select.

When Alberini told Polivka he was going to challenge him, the chairman removed Alberini from the committee.

“Everything is in play,” Alberini said. “I am running even though an interpretation came back that I was ineligible. I hope it will be determined I’m eligible to run. Somebody has got to do this.”

When Polivka sent the county party’s constitution to DeMora to determine Alberini’s eligibility, the ODP official reviewed the bylaws and determined several rules violate state law or the ODP and Democratic National Committee rules.

The Trumbull Democrats had problems with their constitution not being in compliance in 2014, and after a run-in with the ODP, it made changes. Now it’s out of compliance again.

Polivka said the local party honored all of the requested changes from the ODP eight years ago. The latest issues are because of ODP changes in policy, Polivka said.

The party “will review these recommendations” and expects to make the changes, he said.

Alberini said the local party has “so many violations” and “it looks like things have been done out of compliance / illegally for years. I’m hoping the ODP will intervene before the reorganization meeting. We’re clearly not following the rules. This exposes everything that is wrong with our party from a leadership standpoint.”

Meanwhile, the Mahoning County Democratic Party will meet June 4 to select a new leader with Joyce Kale-Pesta not seeking re-election as chairwoman.

Christopher Anderson, the president of the Ohio Young Democrats and a former county party political director, has filed to run to replace her and has lined up several key endorsements. Youngstown Councilman Mike Ray, a state party central committeeman, said he plans to run.

Among Anderson’s endorsements is Kale-Pesta, who was critical a few months ago of him, but has come around to supporting him.

Kale-Pesta plans to run for first vice chairwoman.

Skolnick covers politics for the Tribune Chronicle and The Vindicator.

dskolnick@tribtoday.com