by Troy Graham

STAFF WRITER

(May 13) Frank "Chunki" Angotti and the three incumbents in the House of Delegates race were victorious in the Democratic primary Tuesday night.

Sam Cann led the four candidates with 17 percent of the vote, with all 93 precincts reporting.

Incumbents Barbara Warner and Larry Linch were running second and third with 15.2 percent and 15.05 percent of the votes, respectively. Angotti was fourth with 13.9 percent.

Rod Riggleman, who was fifth with 12.2 percent, conceded defeat after 75 precincts were counted.

"That's probably the way it'll end up," he said. "We worked hard, we had a lot of good people behind us. We were running on working people's money."

The four Democrats will face Republican Lynn McEldowney in November.

McEldowney ran unopposed in the primary.

Angotti could be the first new delegate from Harrison County to go to Charleston since Cann won election four years ago.

At least one non-incumbent was assured victory when Ron Fragale, who won four terms in the House, decided to run for the state Senate.

Angotti has been on the ballot before.

He was twice elected to the Clarksburg Water Board. He has been president of the board for the last five years.

"We're real excited," he said of his victory. "I've been in quite a few elections in the past and you work as hard as you can and you hope everything works out."

Cann said he was surprised that he received the most votes. He spent election night taking down his political signs because he was too nervous to watch the results, a ritual he has gone through each election.

"This is kind of like they took the monkey off my back," he said. "I never know what to expect. It was kind of a strange race with a lot of good candidates and you never know how things will fall out."

Cann, a local businessman, was seeking re-election for the second time.

Linch, a labor representative, has been in the House for six years.

Warner, who chairs the House Roads and Transportation Committee, took the most experience into the election, having served for 10 years.