COVENTRY – The Republican Party turned away from Coventry Supervisor John M. Phelan Jr. Tuesday and instead chose George L. Westcott to be their candidate in the November elections.

The unofficial tally has Westcott with 161 votes to Phelan’s 56. There are some absentee votes yet to come in over the next couple of days.

The win for Westcott means Phelan will not appear on the ballot at all, as his petition to run as an independent was invalid. The one-term supervisor was elected in the last election after a record-setting turnout at the polls. Phelan won over the incumbent Janice A. O’Shea, 323 to 193.

In that election year’s primary, O’Shea lost the support of the Republican Party to Phelan by just 40 votes. She was forced to run for re-election as a Democrat and an independent.

O’Shea had retained her seat since 2004 when she was elected to her late husband Donal G. O’Shea’s seat on the Chenango County Board of Supervisors. He had represented Coventry in Chenango County government since 2000.

Phelan, who could not be reached for comment this morning, was previously Coventry’s supervisor and one-time chairman of the Chenango County Finance Committee for seven years in the 1990s.