The votes have been tallied and the matchup for the three Carbon County commissioner seats in the general election has been set.

Newcomer Chris Lukasevich of Jim Thorpe knocked Republican incumbent Carbon County Commissioner Thomas J. Gerhard off the November ballot Tuesday night. Lukasevich received 2,520 votes, while Gerhard received 2,391.

Republican Incumbent Wayne E. Nothstein garnered the most votes in the GOP primary with 2,756. Jason Frey of Franklin Township and Tom Boyko were also knocked off the ballot, receiving 1,913 and 478 votes respectively. Eighty write-in votes were also cast on the ticket.

Nothstein said that the election results were somewhat surprising.

“It is what it is,” he said. “The voters have spoken. I will go on from here.”

Nothstein added that he wanted to squash any rumors that are floating around about the possibility of him resigning if re-elected to another term this November.

“I will not step down at the end of the year if re-elected in the general,” he said.

Lukasevich provided a statement following his victory.

“My sincere thanks to all who came out to vote,” he said. “My name on the ballot in November is a confirmation that the Republican voters of Carbon County are smart investors who recognized the value of their 34-year investment in my training, education and leadership and management experience.

“I look forward to engaging with Democrat, Independent and nonaffiliated voters as well as fellow Republicans as we head up the road to November’s election.”

On the Democratic ticket, Rocky Ahner and Robert “Bob” Jacobs came out on top in their party. Commissioner William O’Gurek was not seeking re-election.

Ahner was the top vote-getter in his party with 2,459 votes, while Jacobs received 2,337. Shawn M. Kresge received 1,958 votes for his efforts. A total of 133 write-in votes were also cast.

Both Ahner and Jacobs were pleased with the election, saying that the three Democratic candidates ran fair races.

“I’m excited,” Jacobs said. “I want to congratulate Rocky and also acknowledge Shawn Kresge for the good work in this race and for running a race based on the issues. I also want to congratulate Wayne and Chris.

“I’m looking forward to working with Rocky as we work toward success in the general election,” he said.

Ahner said he is looking forward to working with Jacobs to campaign to take back a Democratic majority on the board of commissioners.

He said he enjoyed running against Jacobs and Kresge. And he said he believes Kresge will have a shot at the nomination some day as well.

“We didn’t attack anybody. We always ran a clean campaign. It was a pleasure running against them. They were gentlemen all the way,” he said.

Ahner thanked the voters and his wife, Connie for their support.

Nothstein and Lukasevich will now face Jacobs and Ahner in November.