ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The Belmont County Republican Party is endorsing one of the two GOP candidates on the May 3 primary election ballot.

The party recently chose to endorse incumbent Commissioner Jerry Echemann, who was first elected in 2018.

He is opposed by Vince Gianangeli, who also is running for the Republican nomination.

County GOP Chairman David Jones said the decision to endorse Echemann came during an executive committee meeting Feb. 8, where members spoke in favor of endorsing and supporting Echemann.

“He’s the only true Republican that we’ve got running, as far as we’re concerned. The other guy, he was on the Democratic Central Committee, then he tried to run as an independent and he got beat there, and now he decided to run as a Republican,” Jones said. “Jerry is the only true Republican running, and that’s what our committee (decided).”

Jones added that 90 percent of the committee members were present at the meeting, and they unanimously voted in support of Echemann.

He said according to the Belmont County Board of Elections, Gianangeli has never previously voted in a Republican primary.

The board of elections later provided Gianangeli’s voting information to the Times Leader and could not find any instances in which he voted in a Republican primary.

Kamron Chervenak, assistant director of elections, said one can only vote for candidates in the party with which the individual is affiliated in a primary election.

Jones said this may be the first time the county party has endorsed a local candidate in a primary.

“They unanimously, immediately said they wanted to come out and endorse Jerry … ,” Jones said. “We think he’s done a good job, and he gets along with the other commissioners.”

Echemann was pleased to accept the support.

“I’m just grateful and honored that they gave me their endorsement,” Echemann said. “This kind of thing, I don’t know that it’s ever happened in Belmont County politics before that a party — the local party — came out and chose a candidate that they wanted to support. …

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, it’s a case of neutrality,” Echemann continued. “I think that reflects on the work we’ve done as a county commission, and the work I’ve done. I’ve tried to work hard. The main thing I think the party is seeing is we work as a team and moved the county forward. I think they recognize that. I think they don’t want to see a situation where you would have dissension on the board, or disagreement on an ongoing basis.”

Echemann added that four years ago, he ran in the Republican primary against Christopher Gagin. During that campaign, the county party remained neutral, he said.

Gianangeli responded to the news of the endorsement.

“I’m just running on my name and everything I’ve done for people,” Gianangeli said. “In my 38 years of being a public servant around politics, I’ve never known a party to get involved in a primary. They usually wait to see who wins and support that candidate.”

Gianangeli noted that other local officials, including his opponent, have switched parties to run as Republicans.

According to the board of elections, Echemann ran as an Independent in 2012 and lost. In 2018, he ran as a Republican for the first time.

“I was kind of shocked to see that the party endorsed somebody in a primary,” Gianangeli said. “I’m surprised to see the party endorsed a candidate in a primary, and I have 38 years of public service and have never seen that before.”

Gianangeli is the former director of the Belmont County Department of Job and Family Services and had worked for the county since 2004. He is now principal of St. John Central Academy.

Gianangeli has filed suit against the board of commissioners, claiming that he should have been reinstated as fiscal business administrator for DJFS after he was terminated as director by the board in February 2020. Gianangeli had held the fiscal position prior to becoming director.

The commissioners, though, are asking that the case be dismissed on the grounds that Gianangeli forfeited consideration for reinstatement to the fiscal post when he retired as director and was rehired.

Gianangeli lost his director’s job after he “disregarded a vote by the commissioners,” as stated in a release by the board. Gianangeli also released a statement about that matter, saying that two commissioners voted to terminate another individual within the DJFS whose resignation Gianangeli already had accepted.

On the Democrat side, Jack Regis Sr. is running unopposed in the primary election.