Dem Primary Battle Is On

Candidates vying to be the city’s next mayor and probate court judge successfully petitioned their way onto the upcoming Sept. 12 Democratic Party primary ballot.

Marcus Paca is challenging incumbent Toni Harp to be the city’s next mayor, while attorney Americo Carchia is taking on Clifton Graves, Jr. to finish the term of retiring Probate Judge Jack Keyes. Both Harp and Graves received the endorsement of the Democratic Town Committee, leaving Paca and Carchia to petition their way onto the Democratic primary ballot.

Both men submitted petitions with thousands of signatures last week in hopes of making the ballot. On Tuesday, just before 5 p.m., Democratic Registrar Shannel Evans brought the petition pages to City Clerk Michael Smart for certification after a few days of combing through the thousands of signatures collected by the candidates.

Paca submitted some 3,200 signatures, but only 1,910 were deemed valid, according to the certification notice signed by City Clerk Smart. Three of Paca’s 212 pages of signatures were rejected, but he more than met the threshold of 1,852 signatures needed to make the primary.

So did Carchia, who submitted more than 2,000 signatures. Of his signatures collected, 1,982 were found to be valid. Only one of the 158 pages of signatures that he submitted were rejected.

Mayoral candidate Paca also is certified to have his name appear on the Nov. 7 general ballot, while Carchia is not.