Candidates Reflect On 2011 Elections

With the in the Haverford Township commissioners’ and the magisterial district judge’s races on Election Day, some of the candidates had time to reflect on this year’s campaign season.

One of the more closely watched races was the 3rd Ward commissioner’s race between Republican and Democrat . Both were trying to win the seat left empty by Robert Trumbull, who retired.

Hall received 760 votes compared to Miller’s 632.

“I worked very hard to meet all the residents of the Third Ward.  I walked many nights a week and spoke with the voters.  It was a wonderful way to connect and understand the concerns of our residents,” Hall wrote in an email reply to the Haverford-Havertown Patch Wednesday morning.

Patch reached out to Hall and the other candidates interviewed in this article and they have since responded back.

Hall said that this election “reconfirmed” her belief that of the goodness and dictation of the residents. 

Miller said that it was hard for him to defeat Hall because of her strong support base.

“Jane has strong support in her precinct that came out for her. She ran a good campaigning and was able to benefit from the coattails of Judge (Bob) Burke,” he wrote.

One of the things that Miller learned from the campaign is that it was important to remind people to go out to vote, he stated, continuing that he met many who are concerned for the future of the township.

Asked if he will run again, Miller replied, “I can't say for sure, but I think I'll keep my lawn signs just the same.”

But while the Hall/Miller race was closely watched, the most fiery race was the one between Republican incumbent , who received 1,117 votes, and Democratic challenger , who received 695 votes.

on Election Night about the race, Chrzan emailed the news website that his statements could be found in the comments section of .

In his comments, Chrzan admitted that he knew he was not going to win the race.

“With a big voter registration disadvantage and an entrenched incumbent, I knew going into this that I was unlikely to win the election for 7th ward commissioner,” he wrote. “But I wanted to raise some important issues and shine a light on how things are done in our township, and I did that. I wanted to give the voters a choice — between a candidate who took no contributions from people who do business with our township and McGarrity, who has accepted many such contributions.

“… McGarrity is quoted by the Patch saying I made ‘false accusations.’ Let’s remember two things. I didn’t just make stuff up — I did the work to document the statements I made. I got the public records about McGarrity’s expense reports and campaign finance reports and put them online,” Chrzan wrote, stating that he was proud of his campaign.

on Election Night that he was “humbled” by the amount of people who voted for him, his Democratic opponent was pleased with his results.

“I received 40 percent of the vote in an election against a 12-year incumbent and sitting judge.  I don't think that was a defeat,” he wrote. Burke received 3,242 votes compared to Lozano’s 2,129 votes.

Lozano said that while it is too early to think about future elections, he stated that he will be looking for ways, “I can help ensure that our community is getting everything it deserves from its elected officials.”