By Matthew Gilson | The Save Jersey Blog
While the perfect storm did not come close to materializing for the legislative race in District 36, Save Jerseyans, just as did not all across the state, the southern end of Bergen County had plenty to be smiling about by the end of Election night.
In the ultimate battleground of the biggest county in the state, Republicans at the local level had a tremendous night.
While holding the seats in Carlstadt and East Rutherford were nearly a foregone conclusion, battleground towns such as Ridgefield, Rutherford, North Arlington and Wallington saw Republican gains. In Ridgefield, after losing their only remaining councilmen in the last year by election and defection, former councilmen Angus Todd and Warren Vincentz were elected by narrow margins. In Wallington, former councilman Chris Sinisi was returned to office after losing in 2012, and his running mate Celina Urbankowski, is within striking distance with absentees and provisional ballots to count.
The real story of the night came in North Arlington, where three Republicans won, and in Rutherford where the defeat of two incumbent Democrats changed control of the governing body. For North Arlington, councilmen Richard Hughes and Joe Bianchi were re-elected and will be joined by Dan Pronti who soundly defeated a young challenger to win the unexpired term of Freeholder Steve Tannelli.
The win sets up the Republicans to take back the council next year and the mayoralty will be on the line and I think there was a certain state senate candidate who did pretty well in North Arlington!
For Rutherford, the ramifications are immense as challengers Mark O’Connor and Jack Manzo knocked off two incumbent Democrats to tie the council at three, but unlike North Arlington, there is already a popular Republican mayor in Joe DeSalvo. The town gives Republicans control of the governing body for the first time since 2010. You might also note that along with being home to me it is the hometown of Kathe Donovan who will be up for re-election next year.
In the general election, and even more so if there is a contested primary, having strong Republicans in local office will help to improve her chances of re-election.
What are the other ramifications? The ability to win on the local level is important to continue building strength for our party in the county and the district. Now it appears that by next year, only Lyndhurst and Sarloville (Wood-Ridge) will be in Democratic hands. We must remember that all politics is local and these gains are nothing to scoff at by observers.
If we are going to maintain control in the largest county and most important to winning statewide, folks, it all begins with continuing to build strong Republicans majorities in local governing bodies.
… and didn't even try in Hudson County.
You should include Fair Lawn in your article! Republican council candidates eeked out a tiny win and as you know, Fair Lawn is no cake walk for the GOP.
Dan is a friend of mine and Fair Lawn was an impressive win. However, the focus of my article was more on the southern region as a whole and not specific to one town. It was not meant as a slight to any other campaign, just the amazing results we had down south as a whole and what it means for county elections moving forward
Alright, I was not insinuating you slighted anybody haha I was just trying to brag about how awesome the results in my town were 😉