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Assemblywoman-elect Linda Carter and Freeholder-elect Rebecca Williams share a moment of victory Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of Councilor-elect Ashley Davis.) |
Sen. Bob Menendez swamped his GOP competitor Bob Hugin in Plainfield, 9,704 to 915 according to unofficial returns from the office of Municipal Clerk "AJ" Jalloh.
At the local level, Plainfield Democrats swept the field. Unopposed candidates Ashley Davis (Ward 1) and Joylette Mills-Ransome (Wards 2/3) marched in with 2,105 and 5,483 votes, respectively.
In the only contested race -- Citywide at-large -- where Elton Armady was the Democratic nominee for the vacancy created by Rebecca Williams' move up to the Freeholder Board, Armady bested Independent candidate Ron Johnson by 7,788 to 1,829.
Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, who Plainfielders regard with almost fan-like affection, swept the board with 9,423 (her opponent logged 752), but she was upstaged ever so slightly by Plainfield's own Linda Carter, replacing the late Assemblyman Jerry Green, who logged 9,438 votes.
In the Freeholder race, Democrats also took the honors, led by Plainfield's own Rebecca Williams (filling Linda Carter's seat) with 9,158, followed by longtime and popular Al Mirabella with 9,021, then newcomers Andrea Staten (8,977) and Kimberly Mouded (8,705).
Carter's sweep beats Jerry Green's record going back as far as I can recall (his numbers ran behind his teammates and usually behind the lead freeholder).
Brenda Gilbert, who ran off the ballot for the citywide at-large seat, is also expected to receive some votes, though they will not be tallied until the certified results are released.
In addition, it should be noted the absentee and provisional ballots are not included in these totals.
Using the totals cast for the Senate race, the guesstimate of the turnout of registered voters in Plainfield is 45% -- exceeding the target set by Chairman Mapp as the campaign got under way. This is due in no small part to the infusion of resources by the Menendez campaign in the final days.
The counting of provisional ballots statewide is expected to lead to considerable delays in certifying the results as each provisional ballot must be individually scrutinized to make sure the voter is on the rolls, and then manually recorded.
All the above is the good news; the bad news for Chairman Mapp is that his Board of Ed slate was swamped by the Campbell crew. Here are the Board of Education results --
| 2018 Board of Ed Results (unofficial) * indicates winner |
||
| Harry Watson | Unaligned | 1,785 |
| Rebecca Perkins |
PEA-endorsed | 1,539 |
| Melba Mullins |
Mapp, PEA |
1,808 |
| Alma Blanco | Mapp | 1,707 |
| David Graves | Mapp | 1,453 |
| Richard Wyatt* |
Campbell | 3,576 |
| John Campbell Sr.* | Campbell | 4,454 |
| Emily Morgan* |
Campbell | 3,143 |
| Timothy Priano |
PEA-endorsed | 1,084 |
| Dorien Hurtt |
Mapp | 1,621 |
| Eric Andrews* |
Campbell | 3,411 |
It should also be noted that the candidates endorsed by the Plainfield Education Association (PEA), the teachers' union -- Perkins, Mullins, Priano -- failed to take a single seat, though Mullins obviously benefited from the endorsement.
It seems possible that Morgan's performance reflects people's disaffection with how she handled her year as board president -- one of the most contentious ever.
The really sad thing is that fewer than half of voters bothered to cast a ballot for the school board, simply ignoring that portion of the ballot, although the number is higher than the old separate school board election in April.
Tomorrow I will look into what some of these results mean on the ground in Plainfield.
-- Dan Damon [ follow ]
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