Three Norwin School Board candidates should be removed from the May 20 primary ballot, according to legal challenges filed by two opponents.
Westmoreland County Judge Harry Smail is scheduled to hear challenges Wednesday to the nominating petitions of Alex Detschelt, a current school board member seeking a nomination on the Republican ticket; Tammy Moreno, also running for a spot on the Republican ticket; and Randall Pedder, running for a nomination on both the Republican and Democratic tickets. All three are North Huntingdon residents.
Justin Lokay, a registered Republican from North Huntingdon, challenged the petitions of Detschelt, Moreno and Pedder for the Republican nomination in the filings. In addition to challenging the validity of petition signatures of all three candidates, Lokay contends that Detschelt improperly listed himself as an attorney on his petition when his status with the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is classified as retired.
Detschelt and Moreno denied that the signatures on their petitions are invalid. Moreno, who ran for a seat on the school board in November 2023 but lost, said the signatures on her 2025 petition are the same as the ones she had in 2023, and they were not invalid.
Moreno said she filed her financial statements with the Westmoreland County Bureau of Elections and the Norwin School District by the March 11 deadline, but she learned the school district did not receive the statement and she refiled it.
“This is just political sabotage. It’s just ridiculous,” Moreno said.
Pedder’s petition for a spot on the Democratic ballot is being challenged by Chase Rosenbayger of North Huntingdon. His challenges are the same as the ones listed by Lokay.
Pedder could not be reached for comment.
Lokay pointed out that Detschelt had unsuccessfully challenged the 2023 nominating petition of Nina Totin, who successfully ran with a slate of candidates that Detschelt opposed.
“I figured I would do him a favor in return,” Lokay said.
There are five other candidates for school board, all of whom have cross-filed: Rob Bunovich, Monica Kitta, Jakub Sadowski, Chelsea Thomas and Ella Thompson.