Two big stories came out of Tuesday night's County Legislature Democratic primaries.
In the 21st District race, former journalist Rachel Barnhart beat out the party-designated candidate Victor Sanchez. And in the 26th District, designated candidate Yversha Roman beat incumbent legislator Tony Micciche, who at the end of last year left the Legislature's Republican caucus and joined the Democrats.
Roman pulled in about 63 percent of the votes, and Micciche got 37 percent. The two squared off in the 2015 general election and will face off again this November, since Micciche has the Libertarian Party line. They'll face a Republican challenger, Orlando Rivera.
Barnhart, who pulled in 53 percent of the vote to Sanchez's 46 percent, won despite pushback from the party establishment. She said she campaigned hard and continued emphasizing government accountability, transit, and making better use of the county's fiber optic network, themes that have been part of her previous three runs for office.
"I care a lot about ethics; I care a lot about corruption; I care a lot about campaign finance reform. And those are things that a lot of people really just don’t want to talk about. But I do," Barnhart said.
In the other County Legislature contests:
Former Henrietta Supervisor Michael Yudelson, the party's designated candidate, beat challenger Terry Steg for the 13th District seat. Yudelson pulled in 58 percent of the vote while Steg got 42 percent.
Linda Hasman, the party-designated candidate, came out on top in the three-way race for the 23rd District. She received 50 percent of the vote while Scotty Ginett received 20 percent and Todd Grady received 30 percent.
John Lightfoot, the incumbent and designated candidate for the 25th District seat, got 70 percent of the vote, beating out challenger Montgomery Bryant, who pulled in 30 percent.
Sabrina LaMar, who was recently appointed to the vacant 27th District seat, topped her challenger, Ebony Dukes. LaMar got 60 percent of the vote and Dukes got 40 percent.
Moule is a CITY Newspaper reporter.