From school board races in Norristown to Delaware County’s Council seats, here are the races to watch in Philly’s suburbs

Voters across Pennsylvania will head to the polls next week to cast their ballots in county, municipal, judicial, and school board elections.

The races are quieter affairs than last year’s presidential contest and are traditionally low in turnout. But the lead-up to the May 20 primary has been defined by intraparty disputes among local Republicans and Democrats in the collar counties as they choose nominees for November’s general election.

Here are the races to watch in Philadelphia’s suburbs:

Two incumbent Norristown Area School Board members are running a write-in campaign in an effort to retain Latino representation on the board as the local Democratic Party works to oust them.

The local Democratic committee for Norristown, East Norriton, and West Norriton endorsed five candidates — all of them are newcomers and one of the candidates, Bill Caldwell, is a party leader for the area.

The candidates — Cynthia Davenport, Terell Dale, Jeremiah Lemke, Jordan Alexander, and Caldwell — are all running on the Democratic ballot, and some cross-filed to appear on the Republican ballot as well. They are the only candidates on the ballot in either party.

Citing broad leadership concerns, the party declined to endorse incumbent board members Chris Jaramillo and Tessi Ruiz. Both candidates, and two others who were running alongside them, were then removed from the ballot for paperwork deficiencies. Ruiz and Jaramillo launched a write-in campaign in response.

The removal of Ruiz and Jaramillo would leave the Norristown Area School Board, which governs a district whose student body is half Latino, without any Latino representation. Jaramillo has argued that the party revoked its support of him because the board rejected a tax abatement plan for an affordable-housing project last summer.

Downingtown may become the first Pennsylvania community to elect a transgender mayor this fall.

Erica Deuso, a longtime Democratic activist and advocate for LGBTQ rights, was endorsed by the local Democratic Party in her race against Barry Cassidy, the former leader of Downingtown’s main street program, in the Democratic primary for mayor.

The winner of the race will face Republican Rich Bryant in November.

Deuso has run on a broad campaign focused on being a good neighbor and working with public safety officials in Downingtown. Cassidy has focused intensely on flooding concerns within the Chester County borough. Neither has made Deuso’s identity a major point of their campaign.

“I want to be known as a good mayor, I want to be known as a good person. I want to be known as a person who gets things done. Not just a trans one. Not just a visible one,” Deuso told The Inquirer.

Republicans are hoping to regain representation on the Delaware County Council this year, as two of five seats are on the ballot. Democrats currently hold all five seats on county council.

The county GOP endorsed Brian Burke, a former Upper Darby Council member who left the Democratic Party to run for mayor two years ago, and longtime county employee Liz Piazza for the seats. Democrats are backing incumbent Council member Richard Womack and County Controller Joanne Phillips.

The race has been rife with drama and GOP infighting that hit a fever pitch when right-wing activist Charlie Alexander, who filed to run as a Republican, was removed from the ballot.

He is running a write-in campaign for the primary.

Across Pennsylvania, voters will decide on nominees for the Court of Common Pleas. In Delaware County, November’s election could force a change of leadership in the prosecutor’s office.

District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer, who flipped the DA’s office blue in 2019, is one of two Democrats endorsed by the local party for two open seats on the Court of Common Pleas. He is running alongside attorney Mike Power in the noncompetitive primary where both candidates will advance.

Stollsteimer unsuccessfully ran in the Democratic primary for state attorney general last year after winning a second term as district attorney in 2023.

Republicans have put up just one candidate, Frank Zarrilli, for the court.

May’s primary will launch two key law enforcement races in Bucks County, the only Philadelphia suburb that voted for President Donald Trump last year.

Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran is up for reelection. Harran is a Republican who has frequently clashed with the Democratic board of commissioners and came under fire last month for efforts to use local deputies to help ICE.

His Democratic opponent is Danny Ceisler, part of an influential Philadelphia political family. Ceisler is a veteran who most recently worked in Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration before joining Ceisler Media as a vice president this year.

Bucks County’s former solicitor Joe Khan is challenging District Attorney Jennifer Schorn, the incumbent Republican. Khan unsuccessfully ran for state attorney general last year.

Both races will serve as a key indicator of political movement within one of Pennsylvania’s most critical battleground counties. But the candidates in each race are unopposed in the primary.

In Central Bucks, one of Pennsylvania’s largest school districts, eight candidates are running for four open seats and have cross-filed on both party ballots. Amanda O’Connor, Daniel Kimicata, Katrina Filiatrault, and David Comalli are backed by CBSD Neighbors United, a political action committee that bills itself as “standing strong for public schools” and has supported Democrats in recent elections.

Four other candidates — Betty Santoro, Roman Szewczuk, Brenda Bagonis, and Andrew Miller — have support from the local Republican Party, which says they will bring “leadership and balance to return excellence to CBSD.”

Central Bucks has been a hotbed of controversy over culture-war issues in recent years, featuring deep partisan divisions and heavy spending on school board races. Allegations over abuse of special education students in a district elementary school have created new tensions. Democrats currently control the board by 8-1, and the lone Republican seat is up for grabs, meaning the balance of power won’t shift — though with just one incumbent (Kimicata) seeking reelection, its composition could change significantly.

In heavily Democratic Lower Merion, the local Democratic committee has endorsed two incumbents — school board president Kerry Sautner and member Anna Shurak — along with newcomers Juanita Kerber and Jennifer Rivera for four open seats. The slate says it has “fought to strengthen public education” and “uphold equity,” but “political groups are trying to roll back our progress.”

Challenging them are five other candidates who will also appear on the Democratic ballot: Rich Lester, who is running on a platform of “good governance” and says the district needs “guideposts to drive decision-making”; Rebecca Brodsky, who says she would bring fiscal experience as a small-business owner; and Talia Nissim, Jacob Rudolph, and Deena Pack — the three of whom are running as the “Imagine Better LMSD” slate, along with Omer Dekel. That slate is backed by the local Republican committee, and lists combating antisemitism as a top priority.

Lower Merion’s school board has faced criticism over the past year from Jewish families who say it is failing to adequately address antisemitism. Sautner and Shurak, along with their running mates, say their reelection is crucial to stop “external political agendas” and prevent further destabilization in a district that has undergone numerous recent superintendent changes.