In a different state, and under the banner of a different party, former Schuylkill County commissioners Chairwoman Mantura M. Gallagher won election Tuesday to borough council in Stone Harbor, New Jersey.
Running for a full four-year term in the Cape May County coastal resort town, Gallagher won one of two available seats with 345 votes, while her running mate, Charles C. Krafczek, received 342 votes to get the other seat, according to unofficial tallies.
Although Gallagher had been a Democrat in Schuylkill County, she ran as a Republican in Stone Harbor, which is essentially a one-party borough.
She has served on borough council since Jan. 5, when she was appointed to fill a vacancy caused by the death of a longtime councilman, Albert Carusi.
A teacher of English and Spanish for 31 years at D.H.H. Lengel Middle School in Pottsville, Gallagher won election as a commissioner in 2003. She was re-elected in 2007, and served as the chairwoman for the next four years before retiring after the 2011 election, in which she chose not to run for a third term.