Cruz-Keefe, Lazarony win village Democratic primary | News, Sports, Jobs

Christine Cruz-Keefe

Christine Cruz-Keefe and LeeAnn Lazarony soundly defeated incumbent Michelle Twichell in the Fredonia Democrats’ primary Tuesday to decide nominations for village Board of Trustees seats.

Cruz Keefe received 304 votes, with Lazarony garnering 303 votes and Twichell getting 108 votes, according to unofficial results posted to the Chautauqua County Board of Elections website.

The top two vote-getters advance to be the Democratic Party’s candidates on Election Day. Cruz Keefe and Lazarony were the Democratic Party’s endorsed candidates.

The result marks a serious blow for Fredonia’s “Save Our Reservoir” group, which advocates against buying water from Dunkirk or the North County Water District and preserving the village’s independent water system. Twichell was the group’s only firm supporter on the village board. Cruz Keefe and Lazarony would not commit to a course of action on Fredonia’s water during a League of Women Voters debate last week.

There were two more Chautauqua County primaries Tuesday. In the town of Carroll, Michael Walker defeated Terry Eckman for the Republicans’ highway superintendent nomination, by a count of 75 votes to 45.

LeeAnn Lazarony

In the town of Portland, Edward Bellando defeated incumbent Rich Lewis for the Conservative Party nomination. Bellando got 20 votes, Lewis 10.