It’s official: Democrats Jacqueline Sturdivant, left, and Kate Triggiano are the winners of this year’s race for seats on the Red Bank council.
The five winners in the race for charter study commission were also unchanged from the preliminary results posted on election night, November 2.
The Monmouth County Clerk’s office announced Tuesday that it had certified the results of all races as official.
Political newcomer Sturdivant outpolled her two opponents in the Red Bank council race, garnering 2,134 votes, or 41 percent of the total votes cast.
Incumbent Triggiano, seeking a second three-year term, drew 2,001 votes, or 38.4 percent.
Independent candidate Sue Viscomi finished third with 1,031 votes, or 19.8 percent.
The race pitted Triggiano against fellow Democrat Sturdivant, who ran with the backing of the local party, headed by Councilman Ed Zipprich.
When the municipal government reorganizes January 1, Democrats will again hold all six council seats, with a Democrat, Mayor Pasquale Menna, at the helm. The party has dominated borough government for all but one of the past 31 years.
In the council race, 3,323 votes were cast in-person on election day; 1,298 were submitted by mail; and 474 were cast during early, in-person voting, Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon reported.
Borough voters also overwhelmingly approved – by a 2,108 to 918 margin – a referendum calling for the creation of a charter study commission to recommend possible changes in the town’s form of government.
The winners of the commission’s five seats, among 11 candidates, were:
Nancy Facey-Blackwood 1,196 votes, or 12.6 percent of the total
Kate Okeson 1,007 votes, 10.6 percent
Mark Taylor 992 votes, 10.45 percent
Ben Forest 923 votes, 9.7 percent
Mike DuPont 894 votes, 9.4 percent
In New Jersey’s gubernatorial race, won by incumbent Democrat Phil Murphy, borough voters backed Murphy for a second term over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, 1,513 to 1,257.
Murphy, a Middletown resident, won eight of Red Bank’s nine voting districts, with Ciattarelli garnering 175 votes to Murphy’s 129 in the fifth district.
Across the county, though, Ciattarelli was the clear winner, with 58.8 percent of votes cast, to Murphy’s 40.3.
Democrat Vin Gopal won re-election to the state senate in the 11th legislative district, which includes Red Bank, topping Republican challenger Lori Annetta with 36,978 votes (51.9 percent) to 34,296 (48.1 percent). Gopal won seven of the borough’s nine districts.
In a tight race, incumbent Democrats Joanne Downey and Eric Houghtaling lost their seats representing the 11th-district in the state Assembly to Republicans Marilyn Piperno and Kimberly Eulner.
The clerk reported overall voter turnout of 49.1 percent in the county.
All race results can be found here.
(Candidate and redbankgreen photos. Click to enlarge.)
If you value the news coverage provided by redbankgreen, please become a financial supporter for as little as $1 per month. Click here to set your own level of monthly or annual contribution.
