Little Silver Republicans spoke loudly and clearly at the voting booth, propelling sitting Mayor Robert Neff to a comfortable victory in Tuesday’s voting primary.
Neff, a 56-year-old attorney who is seeking his third mayoral term, commanded more than 74 percent of the vote, soundly defeating GOP challenger Rick Brandt.
In a Monday interview with Stuart Van Winkle ,the Little Silver Republican chair said he expected approximately 1,000 votes to be cast due to a contentious lead-up to the primary.
Actual votes exceeded that projection as residents cast an unofficial total of 1,471 votes. Neff received 1,092 of the votes to Brandt’s 376. There were three write-in votes.
In a Wednesday interview, Brandt declined to say if another foray into the political arena was in his future, but thanked the community for its support.
“I learned a lot from the experience. It was a tremendous amount of work and I am very proud of the effort I put into the campaign,” Brandt said. “I want to thank each person who made this journey a positive experience, encouraged me along the way and to the hundreds of residents who voted for me.”
Neff could not be reached for comment.
Months of political tensions prefaced the vote, with a deluge of campaign signs littering lawns, plastering vehicles and being displayed on commercial properties.
The signs even led to a verbal altercation and allegations of harassment when a video published on YouTube showed the owners of a car detail and auto body shop on Sycamore Avenue exchanging words with Van Winkle about the placement of a Brandt campaign placard.
Borough resident Pete Robbins said the actions that preceded the primary are not typical of the community.
“It got really nasty, but I don’t think the actions of a few necessarily depict what this community is about as a whole. I’ve lived here with my family for 25 years and I honestly don’t recall another mayoral election. So it was unusual to begin with. But it did seem to get a little mean-spirited,” Robbins said Tuesday outside his borough hall polling place.
Sitting council members Donald Galante and Corinne Thygeson ran uncontested in the primary on a joint Republican ticket alongside Neff, who was endorsed by the Monmouth County Republican Party in February.
Thygeson received 1,182 votes, while Galante collected 1,104.
Too Close to Call in Holmdel
Though sitting Mayor Eric Hinds was a runaway winner in Holmdel’s Republican primary for a township committee seat, the race for the second nomination could come down to 48 outstanding provisional ballots.
A certified decision is expected to be made Friday by the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, declaring the winner to be either sitting committeeman Michael Nikolis or Holmdel Board of Education member Chiung-Yin Cheng Liu.
The unofficial results published by the clerk’s office showed 2,479 votes cast Tuesday, with Hinds receiving 831 votes and just 12 votes separating Nikolis and Liu; Nikolis currently leads the race 645 to 633.
Earlier this year the county Republicans endorsed a ticket that included Hinds and Liu, while Nikolis ran in the fourth column.
“If the unofficial results stand, we need to move forward as a team and do everything in our power to do what’s right by the community,” Hinds said. “We’ll know Friday what the results are and however it turns out, I look forward to doing just that.”
Nikolis said he is not celebrating just yet.
“I’m not counting my chickens until they hatch and the results are certified. It’s a monumental lift to run in column four and win. It’s never been done. So I’m cautiously optimistic,” Nikolis said.
There were five Republicans up for the two open nominations. Kimberley LaMountain earned 302 votes and Nicholas Teetelli logged 60. There were eight write-in votes.
Edged In Oceanport
Sitting council members Joseph A. Irace and Stephen Solan won a slim primary victory over two Republican challengers and outlasted a late write-in campaign.
According to unofficial numbers published by the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, there were 666 votes cast Tuesday. Irace led the pack, garnering more than 28 percent of the total with 187 votes.
Only 22 votes separated Solan, the borough council president, and Michael P. DePonte. Solan received 172 votes to DePonte’s 150.
Keith A. Salnick received 77 votes, three less than those cast for write-in candidates.
Irace and Solan shared a county Republican-endorsed ticket with mayoral candidate Robert Proto.
The group speculated that members of an independent ticket, which includes sitting mayor Jay Coffey, a registered Democrat, and council hopefuls Meghan Walker, vice chair of the Oceanport Democratic Party, and Tom Tvrdik, a registered Republican, were responsible for the write-in total, which unofficially reached 80 votes.
According to the borough clerk’s office, Tvrdik received 66 of the 80 write-in votes on the Republican ballot.
Proto received 187 votes on an uncontested mayoral ballot, but Coffey took in 84 of the 94 write-in votes cast.
“There were some weird numbers this year and it’s a concerted effort behind the scenes by the Democrats. They’re playing a game to confuse voters, running as independents instead of Democrats, and it’s a little disingenuous, but I don’t really mind it,” Irace said Wednesday. “The takeaway is that the process works. We live in a small town. We all have a vision for it. It’s our Oceanport and we’ll all work together to come up with what’s best for it.”
