Numbers Show Republican Victories

The unofficial returns from yesterday's election show that the Republican Party remains the dominate party in Westfield, delivering wins for all but one of its candidates from the governor's race to the Town Council.

Only Democratic Third Ward Councilman Dave Haas was able to withstand the Republican tsunami, beating back challenger Tom Delaney with a convincing 55-percent to 45-percent win. Haas' victory has been attributed to the incumbent's strong grassroots campaign, which included knocking on many of his ward's doors. Democratic Freeholder Deborah Scanlon also won in town, but her win was attributed to the fact that the GOP ran only two candidates for three freeholder spots and she 1,800 votes behind the second placing Republican candidate.

Scanlon did run narrowly ahead of Democratic mayoral nominee Bill Brennan in the townwide ballot. Brennan pulled in 3,927 votes to Scanlon's 4,000 votes. Democratic County Surrogate James LaCorte and Democratic Gov. Jon Corzine were the top vote getters for the Democrats townwide, with 4,085 votes and 4,448 votes respectively. The result was a flip from 2005, when Corzine beat Republican nominee Doug Forrester in town.

The results show Republican Mayor Andy Skibitsky to be the most popular elected official in town, easily outpolling Gov.-Elect Chris Christie in the race. Skibitsky brought in 6,714 votes compared to 5,782 for Christie. Assemblymembers Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) and Nancy Munoz (R-Summit) also outpolled Christie, but finished behind Skibitsky, with 6,627 vote and 6,306 votes respectively. Bramnick and Munoz faced a Democratic ticket which barely campaigned.

Skibitsky 63-percent to 37-percent, or just under 2,800 vote, victory easily bests the last two mayoral results in town. In 2005, Skibitsky beat former Democratic Mayor Tom Jardim by 55-percent to 45-percent for the town's first ever four year mayoral term. In 2002, former Republican Mayor Greg McDermott won his second term 58-percent to 42-percent over Democratic nominee Tom Fuccillo.

A look at the ward by ward numbers:

First Ward

The Republicans swept the First Ward with Skibitsky and Christie winning all seven election districts in the ward. In the race for the open Council seat, Republican Councilman-elect Sam Della Fera beat Democratic nominee Janice Siegel in six of the districts. Siegel pulled out a win in the sixth district by a vote of 176-153.

The sixth district showed a trend to Democrats in the election with Corzine winning the district 166-154 over Christie and LaCorte beating Republican nominee Art Zapolski 155-146. Scanlon finished in the top three in the election district as well with the two Republican candidates, Garwood Councilman Anthony Sytko and Fanwood attorney Nicole Cole.

Ward Two

The most Republican ward in town did not disappoint the GOP Tuesday night with the ticket easily winning every race. Skibitsky and Christie carried every election district. Scanlon polled third in all but two of the districts, with Freeholder Alexander Mirabella placing third in district one and district four. Both Democrats though finished far behind the Republican ticket. Republican Councilwoman Vicki Kimmins was unopposed for reelection.

Ward Three

Democrats ran strong in Ward Three. In one precinct, district three, Democrats swept the ward. The district was the only won by Brennan townwide, by a vote of 164-153. Corzine bested Christie 179-122. Democratic Assembly nominees Bruce Bergen and Norman Albert bested Bramnick and Munoz in the district. Albert pulled in 162 votes and Bergen 161 to 137 for Bramnick and 123 for Munoz. This was the only precinct in Westfield won by the Democratic ticket.

LaCorte easily bested Zapolski for surrogate in the district and the Democratic freeholder ticket, Scanlon, Mirabella and Freeholder-elect Mohamed Jalloh easily beat Sytko and Cole. In the Council race in the third district, Haas thrashed Delaney by a vote of 209-93.

Haas won in all but two of the districts in his ward. In the fourth district, Delaney pulled off a 200-199 win and in the sixth district he won 214-192.

Ward Four

Ward Four residents would be excused if they thought they were the only game in town. With an ultra competitive Council race, lawn signs kept popping up throughout the ward for Republican Councilman-elect Keith Loughlin and Democratic Councilman Tom Bigosinski.

In the race, which Loughlin won by 142 votes, the Republican carried three election districts with the Democrat carrying two. Bigosinski bested Loughlin in district one by a vote of 314-297 and in district two by a vote of 301-231. Loughlin carried district three 312-247, district four 238-178 and district four 334.

Skibitsky easily carried the ward and all of the districts in it. In the governor's race, Christie easily carried the ward, taking all but one of the districts. In district two, the governor won 271-255.

LaCorte did his best in the ward, capturing two election districts over Zapolski. In the freeholder race, the two Republicans easily lead with Scanlon and Mirabella alternating for the third spot. Fourth Ward voters showed support for younger candidates, easily voting for Loughlin, Cole and Sytko in the balloting. The other under 40 candidate on the ballot, Jalloh, finished fifth in the ward.