Republicans Back Port Chester IDA Leader Neil Pagano for Mayor

Port Chester's Republicans on Tuesday night selected Neil Pagano, chairman of the Port Chester Industrial Development Agency, as their candidate for mayor in the March 19 village elections.

The decision comes just a night after Pagano received the backing of the Independence Party and the Conservative Party in his race against incumbent Democratic Mayor Dennis Pilla. Democrats on Monday backed Pilla in his bid for re-election.

Republicans on Tuesday night also backed trustees Joseph Kenner, the Port Chester Republican Party chairman, and Saverio Terenzi for re-election. Additionally, Republicans nominated newcomers Jing Xie and Frank Ferrara as trustee candidates. Both Xie and Ferrara work in financial management, Xie at IBM in Somers and Ferrara as director of the Ferrara Family Trust.

The mayor's seat and all six trustee seats are to be decided in the election. In the cumulative form of voting in Port Chester, voters can cast their six votes for trustees in any combination they want — allowing them to cast more than one vote for an individual candidate.

Joining Pilla on the Democratic ticket are incumbent trustees Luis Marino and Daniel Brakewood, along with nominee Gregory Adams, who is a former Port Chester Board of Trustees member.

The Conservative Party, in addition to supporting Pagano, is backing trustees Bart Didden and Terenzi for re-election, while also supporting Rico Dos Anjos for a trustee seat.

Didden and Terenzi, like Pagano, were also nominated for re-election by the Independence Party.

Both Democrats and Republicans are trying to build a clear majority on the seven-member Board of Trustees with their election slates in hopes of taking control of village policy-making.