Jefferson County keeps incumbents in office
STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla, a Democrat, will continue his over 30-year career in Jefferson County following a huge victory in Tuesday’s election.
Abdalla beat Republican challenger Mark Clark by more than 6,000 votes, securing his role until 2020. Abdalla received 20,377 votes, while Clark received 9,422.
The race for Jefferson County Commission saw a tighter competition, with incumbents David Maple and Tom Gentile keeping their seats with 15,940 and 15,139 votes respectively. Maple defeated Beth Rupert-Warren, who received 12,652 votes, while Gentile defeated Greg Metcalf, who received 13,489 votes.
Maple, a native of Toronto, currently owns Maple Consulting, LLC, providing corporate consulting services to the manufacturing industry and is a co-owner of Treat, a frozen yogurt shop in Steubenville.
Gentile, a Wintersville resident, describes his public service mission as being fiscally conservative and unbiased on campaign statements.
For the County District 1 judge position, incumbent Lisa Ferguson won with 14,404 votes against Kris Haught, who received 6,819 votes. During her time as judge, Ferguson implemented a new ankle monitoring system in Jefferson County to help prevent overcrowding of jails, along with a driving simulator for local schools and organizations.