Incumbents roll in local elections

Heavily favored Democratic incumbent Lynne Abraham, the first woman to serve as Philadelphia's district attorney, reclaimed her office last night with than 75 percent of the vote. In winning re-election, Abraham overcame criticism from criminal justice purists and Republican candidate Charles Cunningham of her community-based crime prevention projects and her handling of highly publicized cases. "People recognized that I had courage, which where I grew up in West Philadelphia was called guts," Abraham said about her victory. College junior Abby Russell, chairperson of the College Democrats, said that Abraham will be "effective" as district attorney, because she focuses on crime, gun control and street violence. "I will give my time unstintingly because Philadelphia deserves it," Abraham said at her victory speech. With 98 percent of the votes counted early this morning, Abraham had 76 percent of the vote, while Cunningham had 21 percent. Consumer Party candidate Arthur Liebersohn received three percent. Despite accusations from Republican candidate Herbert Linsenberg that he has failed to audit service departments properly, Democratic incumbent Jonathan Saidel won the election for city controller with 69 percent of the vote. Some University Republicans, however, were very displeased with the city controller results. "I think Jonathan Saidel is a tragic loss, because he was involved in many scandals," said College senior Dana Lynch, chairperson of the College Republicans. Republican candidate for city controller Herbert Linsenberg, a 1951 Law School graduate, received 26 percent of the vote, while Consumer Party candidate Patricia McNamara took five percent. Although the results for the district attorney and city controller elections were overwhelmingly Democratic, the 22nd division, which is composed of the Quadrangle and Stouffer College House, voted Republican for the first time since Franklin Roosevelt was in office. Lynch credits the resurgence of Republican votes to a recent voter registration drive, conducted by College sophomore Christopher Robbins. "We're very impressed with his efforts,"said Lynch of Robbins. Late last night in the state senatorial race, Republican Bruce Marks led Democrat William Stinson by 121 votes with 98 percent of the votes tabulated. The special election for a new state senator was held to fill the vacancy left by Francis Lynch (D), who died in May. The election is crucial to both parties, as the Republicans have 50 senate votes to the Democrats' 49. A recount of the state senate election is expected sometime tomorrow. Staff writer Gregory Montanaro contributed to this article.