Incumbents win re-election

Democrats in landslide

By: Joseph Harvie
   Voters overwhelmingly gave Democrats another two years in full control of the Township Council.
   The Democratic incumbents, Mayor Frank Gambatese and Councilman Chris Killmurray, won in all 30 township voting districts, earning new four-year terms on the council. Three Democratic seats will be up in 2008.
   Mayor Gambatese received 58.3 percent of the vote with 5,529. His opponent, Republican Lynda Woods Cleary, received 29.6 of the votes with 2,660. In addition, 12.1 percent or 1,084 write-in ballots were cast, of which at least 1,000 were for former Mayor Debra Johnson, said Township Clerk Barbar Nyitrai.
   Mr. Killmurray received 64.4 percent of votes cast for council with 5,574. His opponent, Republican Nannette Craig, received 35.6 percent or 3,086 votes.
   The Democrats gathered at VFW Post 9111 on Henderson Road and, as the results came in and voting district after voting district went for the incumbents, the chattering grew louder and the hugs and kisses started. The only break in the focus on the local race came at about 8:35 p.m. when the entire room broke into cheers at the news that CNN was projecting that U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez would be the winner in New Jersey.
   As the final district tallies came in, Mayor Gambatese grabbed Mr. Killmurray’s hand and they held them up triumphantly, as the rest of the room cheered them on in congratulations.
   Mayor Gambatese, who won his second term as mayor, said he was impressed with the win, because his vote total was larger than the combined total of his Republican challenger and the write-ins.
   "To be honest, we are really thrilled with the results," Mayor Gambatese said. "When you run against two people you don’t know how it will turn out. And we did run against two people and came out on top."
   Mayor Gambatese said that one of his top priorities for the coming year is to get Route 1 widened in the township. He said that he has been meeting with representatives from the Gov. Jon Corzine’s office about how to make transportation easier on Route 1.
   "I promise you work will start on Route 1 before my term is up," Mayor Gambatese said.
   Mr. Killmurray said that he was happy with victory because of the "clean" campaign that was run.
   "We ran an honest, issue-oriented campaign, and the voters responded to that," Mr. Killmurray said.
   He said he will keep the promise he made throughout the campaign to tackle issues brought forward by residents.
   "I’m going to focus on issues, street by street, neighborhood by neighborhood, house by house on quality of life issues that affect the residents of South Brunswick," Mr. Killmurray said.
   At the polls residents said they voted for Mayor Gambatese and Mr. Killmurray because of their work on preserving open space and their desire to bring more businesses to South Brunswick.
   Steven Georges, of Kendall Park, said he voted Democrat down the line for the first time ever. He said that locally he trusts Mayor Gambatese and Mr. Killmurray.
   "I think they’ve done a good job for us," Mr. Georges said.
   A man voting at Brunswick Acres School said he voted Democratic because of their support for labor unions over the years. He called them the lesser of two evils.
   A husband and wife voting at the Community Center in Woodlot Park said they voted straight Democratic because they liked the incumbents locally, because of their work to keep taxes down and their responsiveness to the residents.