The Secaucus Town Council will remain intact after Tuesday’s elections while Democrat Phil Murphy will be New Jersey’s next governor.
In the only contested council race, incumbent Robert Costantino decidedly defeated newcomer Steven Kilawattie in Ward 1 with more than 80 percent of 1,008 votes cast. Mayor Michael Gonnelli and councilmen John Gerbasio, Mark Dehnert and William McKeever were all running unopposed.
Of the three open spots on the Secaucus Board of Education, two were won by incumbents Lance Bartletta (25.53%) and Ruby Pantoliano (21.2%). Newcomer Kathleen McFarlane (18.71%) may have won the third spot over Georgios Tsirogiannis but no final decision can be made until all absentee ballots are counted.
See updated election results at http://hudsoncountyclerk.org/vipresults/results_19624.html.
In the larger New Jersey races, Murphy cruised to a lopsided victory over Republican Lieutenant Governor Kim Guadagno, who was unable to sufficiently distance herself from deeply unpopular outgoing Governor Chris Christie. Murphy got more than 80 percent of the vote in Hudson County.
In the state legislature, Democrats Vincent Prieto and Angelica Jimenez garnered lopsided wins to continue representing Secaucus in the General Assembly and Democrat Nicholas Sacco got more than 80 percent of the 24,000 votes cast for the State Senate seat.
For the statewide ballot questions, voters approved library funding bonds and decided that any funds received from polluting companies must be used for environmental purposes. Neither vote was close.