Election results, 2018

Democrats running unopposed for municipal elections easily won election and re-election (obviously), to full four-year terms, along with another unexpired two-year term on Tuesday night.

Ray Giacobbe, Jr., who was appointed interim mayor in January following the resignation of former Mayor Samson Steinman, won election to a full four-year term that runs from 2019 through 2022.

Three City Council At-large incumbents were re-elected to new four-year terms: James Baker, Joanna Miles and Jeremy Mojica.

A fourth City Council seat on the nine-member governing body was up this year. Joseph Gibilisco was appointed to the 6th Ward seat after Giacobbe vacated it to become interim mayor and won election to the remaining two years of that term.

Unofficial results can be viewed on the county clerk’s site here., which I’ve also put into an Excel file (with local results for races at each level in a separate sheet).

Here are the unofficial results for local races:

Mayor
Ray Giacobbe, Jr. — 6,726
Personal choice — 22

City Council At-large
James Baker — 6,283
Joanna Miles — 6,270
Jeremy Mojica — 6,184
Personal choice — 20

City Council — 6th Ward – unexpired term
Joe Gibilisco — 1,109
Personal choice — 6

Turnout in Union County was almost 45 percent, with 404 of 431 districts reporting, and Rahway was a little higher at just under 50 percent.

In the U.S. Senate race, Robert Menendez (D-Hudson) carried Union County with 65 percent of the statewide vote against Bob Hugin (R-Union), with 32 percent. Locally, Menendez outpolled Hugin almost 3-to-1.

Three Board of Education seats were up this year:

  1. Lori Kennedy — 2,756, 24 percent
  2. Ray Lopez — 2,406, 21 percent
  3. Eric Miles — 2,113, 18 percent
  4. Peter Kowal — 1,947, 17 percent
  5. Ronald Dolce — 960, 8 percent
  6. Dorian Timmons — 748, 6.5 percent
  7. Bryan DesRochers — 586, 5.0 percent

Giacobbe and the other five ward seats on City Council also were unopposed in the 2016 general election. Giacobbe originally won a two-year unexpired term for the 6th Ward seat in 2014, defeating John Koenig.

Steinman was an interim mayor for more than a year before winning election to a full four-year term in 2014, defeating Republican Patrick Cassio and Independent candidate Renee Bridges Thrash.

Baker originally was elected in 2002, resigning from the school board to run on a ticket with former Mayor James Kennedy, now an assemblyman, who first was elected in 1990. Miles and Mojica were elected to their second terms.

Democrats have held all nine seats on the governing body and the mayor’s office since 2009. All are considered part-time positions with annual salaries of about $8,000 for council members and $72,000 for the mayor. All are four-year terms.

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