Stoltz was running on the Republican ticket to take over the full-time judicial seat vacated by the late Fred Miller. He won on the Republican ballot in the spring, but lost the Democratic ticket to Bigelow-Cherry, who is also a registered Republican.

“My team is my success,” Stoltz said, adding that he was on speakerphone with about 16 people, relatives and friends — “my solid inner circle.”

“Full entire credit to my team and my God,” Stoltz said.

One of his supporters, Sue Rhoades, took the phone.

Stoltz

“People believed in his integrity and character,” Rhoades said of Stoltz. “He’s real; he’s honest; there’s no hidden agenda.”

Then campaign manager Donny Beaver spoke.

“I’ve watched Kevin since he was 16,” Beaver said, adding that his upbringing was “challenging, with no advantages — no silver spoon.”

But despite that lack of advantages, Stoltz became starting quarterback for coach John Hayes at Bellwood-Antis High School, which required him to become the epitome of a team player, Beaver said.

Later, during his 29 years as a UPS driver who regularly brought packages to Beaver’s business, Stoltz excelled as a “mediator,” whenever there were damaged packages for him to deliver.

Bigelow-Cherry

They were damaged through no fault of Stoltz’s, but he had to ensure that calm prevailed and that the company would make things right, Beaver said.

Stoltz will be tasked to thread the needle in a similar fashion as a magisterial district judge, not picking sides, working to mediate situations, Beaver said.

Bigelow-Cherry knew that it would be difficult in the general election as a Republican on the Democratic ticket — as that wrinkle isn’t easy to explain to voters, she said.

But it wasn’t inappropriate, given that the post she was seeking is non-partisan, she said.

Party doesn’t matter when someone comes before a magisterial district judge, she said.

Voters from the Sixth Ward, Fourth Precinct cast their ballots at the Altoona Bible Church on Union Avenue on Tuesday afternoon. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

Some people in her position might have quit the race after such a primary result, but she did not, having asked both Republicans and Democrats to vote for her during the primary, she said.

It would have been inappropriate not to follow through, she said.

She’s grateful for having the opportunity to run, she said.

It’s not as if she considers it to have been a hardship, anyway, she added.

In her law practice, she deals with mental health, drug addiction, domestic violence, neglect, abuse and truancy, and the difficulty of the challenges that the individuals she deals with in such cases far outstrip the difficulties of running for office, she said.

She’ll continue to love and serve the community, “as a lawyer, as a citizen, as a person, as a mom,” she stated.