Unopposed, Princeton Democrats elected to new terms

Voters back Democrats strongly across the ballot

By: Courtney Gross
   Democrats in Princeton Borough and Princeton Township have been re-elected to municipal office in a race that had no challengers.
   In the borough, Mayor Mildred Trotman was elected to serve the remaining year of a term left vacant by the death of former Mayor Joseph O’Neill. Ms. Trotman was chosen to fill the vacancy in November 2005 and received 2,267 votes on Tuesday.
   Filling the council seat vacated by Mayor Trotman, Councilwoman Barbara Trelstad received 2,220 votes to serve the term’s remaining two years.
   Both councilwomen Margaret Karcher and Wendy Benchley won re-election with 2,190 and 2,246 votes respectively to gain another three-year term.
   Representing some borough voters’ appreciation for fictional cartoon characters, both Daffy Duck and Donald Duck received a vote for council.
   While embracing the same goals, the re-elected members of the Borough Council and Mayor Trotman highlighted some of the issues they would like to accomplish in their next term, including consolidating the borough and township police departments and seeing the groundbreaking of the Tulane Street Building C in the borough’s downtown redevelopment project.
   On other projects, Mayor Trotman said, "We’ll do whatever we can to make sure Hulfish North moves along as smoothly as possible."
   Ms. Karcher also said the council would ensure that communication with Princeton University remains open.
   In the township, Committeeman Chad Goerner, who was appointed to the governing body in July following the resignation of Committeeman Bill Hearon, received 4,371 votes to serve a full three-year term. As in the Borough Council election, he was unopposed.
   In statewide contests, 75 percent of borough residents backed U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez over Republican challenger Thomas H. Kean Jr. for the six-year Senate term. In the township, 73 percent chose Sen. Menendez.
   For the 12th Congressional District, both township and borough voters overwhelmingly chose incumbent Democrat Rep. Rush Holt over Republican challenger Joseph Sinagra. Rep. Holt received 84 percent of the vote in the borough and the township.
   Three out of four voters in the township chose incumbent Democrat Dianne Gerofsky for Mercer County surrogate over Republican challenger Colette Coolbaugh, while approximately four out of every five votes in the borough also went to the incumbent.
   All incumbent Democrats on the Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders, including Ann Cannon, Elizabeth Maher Muoio and Pasquale "Pat" Colavita were overwhelmingly supported in the borough and township, over Republican challengers Ashley Hutchinson, Kim Taylor and Marjorie L. Hopwood. On average, three out of four voters in the township and the borough supported the Democratic incumbents.