The 2025 primary elections are fast approaching and are set to take place on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.
The following seats are open for Monroe County: Court of Common Pleas, Magisterial Judge, Judge of the Superior Court, Coroner, Stroudsburg School Director at Large, Judge of the Commonwealth Court, Treasurer, Council Member, Tax Collector, Judge of Election, Inspector of Election, and Mayor.
“The primaries are important. Sometimes I get frustrated when I see people standing up to our bigger government, and they don’t vote in the smaller elections,” expresses Sophie Best, ’26. “The smaller elections affect them more because if we get people to fight for us and bring our voice up, then we will have more problems solved.”
Running for Council Member are Michael Schroder and Walter TJ Lopez on the Republican ballot; Claire Crawford Braun and Cheryl Joubert on the Democrat ballot.
The Democratic candidate and only candidate for Tax Collector is Lynn Harrison. Also, only on the Democratic side is Tom Yanac running for coroner. Running for both Judge of Election and Inspector is Ann Marie Wingert. Again, those positions only have Democratic candidates.
Running for Treasurer on the Democratic ballot is Ira Jolley, and on the Republican side is Theresa Johnson. Running for Mayor on the Democratic ballot are Michael Moreno and James Smith. On the Republican side is Kerri Manning Freeo. Michael Moreno is the current Mayor of Stroudsburg.
For the primaries, some candidates must crossfire, which means they show up on both the Democratic and Republican ballots. The candidates for the school board also do this. Running for School Director at Large are Kathleen M Kilker, Chris Field, Cindy Blake, John Jake Jakobsen, Tiffany Pozza, Alex Smith, and Erin Derosa.
The next position that crossfiles is the Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. Running for this position are Patrick Best, Kelly Lombardo, Jamie Levy, Janet Jackson, and Alex Marek.
For Magisterial Judge, the candidates are Don Johnson and Lenny Demaria on both ballots. Tom Britton is the only candidate for that position registered on one ballot, the Republican candidate.
The Judge of the Commonwealth court candidates are Stella Tsai on the Democratic side. Matt Wolford and Josh Prince are the candidates on the Republican side.
The final position open for elections is the Judge of the Superior Court. Running for this position are Brandon Neuman on the Democratic ballot and Maria Battista and Ann Marie Wheatcraft on the Republican ballot.
Make sure to vote for the local positions as the local positions help us get to the bigger positions.
“It is so important to vote in local elections. People need to focus on the smaller things sometimes [rather] than the bigger things. The local officers will affect our community much more than the national officers,” says Zoey Zeballos, ’26.
You can see the sample ballot for the Stroudsburg Borough here Sample Ballot. You can find more information about voting at Vote.org.