Mayoral Race Heating Up In Yardley Borough

YARDLEY BOROUGH, PA — The race for the next mayor of Yardley is heating up.

While the Democrats have a majority on the Borough Council, Council President Caroline Thompson will face two opponents in her quest in the Nov. 4 general election to replace Mayor Chris Harding.

Thompson has served eight years on the Borough Council, including the last few years as council president. The seven council members are all Democrats.

She is being challenged for the four-year term by Republican Earl Markey and Independent candidate Zachary R. Bark. Brad Oyler is a Write-In candidate.

Markey recently won a lawsuit against Yardley Borough in which Borough Manager Paula Johnson flagged a Facebook comment on a Patch story on the borough's budget as a personal attack and got permission from Thompson to remove the post several hours later, according to court documents.

The settlement stated that Yardley Borough had to pay $2,500 to Earl J. Markey III.

Markey said he will donate the monetary payment from the settlement to non-profit organizations.

Markey was also responsible for getting a special question getting an election ballot question that year to reduce the council's size from seven to five. The referendum was rejected by voters.

Meanwhile, Bark told Patch that he has lived in Yardley and the surrounding area for about 15 years.

His father ran for supervisor in Upper Makfield Township and served as an advisor to the township treasurer.

Bark said he began his plan to run for mayor two years ago. Bark said he went the Independent party route to ensure that he would have no backing from major donors or political parties, with his stakeholders being borough constituents.

Patch will feature election profilesof the candidates leading up to the Nov. 4 general election