By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Jenny Crumiller and Tim Quinn walked into Conte’s on Tuesday night uncertain how voters had treated them in the Democratic primary for Princeton Council earlier that day.
At the end of a long campaign, they and fellow Democrats had gathered at the restaurant where the pizza pies and the pitchers of beer were flowing to learn the results of the four-way race for the two seats up for grabs. Ms. Crumiller would later say she had “no idea” whether she would win, although she believed her name recognition and being an incumbent were assets.
“It was a very anxious time,” Mr. Quinn said in recalling his feelings.
As the numbers added up, Ms. Crumiller won or tied 17 of the 22 polling districts to finish with 2,722 votes, with Mr. Quinn behind her with 2,278. They defeated Leticia Fraga, 2,225 votes, and Anne Neumann, 1,406 votes, to advance to the general election.
Ms. Crumiller said she was “happy” the race was over, a “nerve-wracking” experience in which she and the other candidates had no way of knowing whether their message was resonating with voters or how they were doing.
But a source close to Ms. Crumiller said Wednesday that her campaign was confident that she would “retain her seat” and be the top vote-getter. The campaign, the insider said, directed its strategy of wooing voters who had voted in recent primaries, a strategy that Mr. Quinn used too.
For Mr. Quinn, this was his first foray into council politics, although he had served two terms on the school board. In explaining his strategy, Mr. Quinn said Wednesday that the aim was to target specific voting districts and voters who had a track record of voting in primaries.
A source close to the Quinn campaign said this week that Mr. Quinn had a small staff of volunteers who had never been involved in municipal politics. The thinking was not to focus an attack on any one candidate but rather to have Mr. Quinn appeal to as many voters as possible, the source said.
“Team Quinn did not take anything for granted,” the source said. "Everyone was very nervous and very aware that it could have gone in a lot of different directions.”
Still, Mr. Quinn went into the contest thinking it was going to be a tight race —a feeling that came true. He and Ms. Fraga were separated by fewer than 60 votes.
“I was expecting Leticia and I to probably be within a dozen votes of each other either way,” he said.
The theme or main issue of the race was the affordability of Princeton, a community with high taxes that puts a premium on having affordable housing for low to middle income earners. Candidates talked of having more affordable housing in town and wanting to save the taxpayers’ money in the municipal budget.
In assessing her first race for office, Ms. Fraga said Wednesday that she was pleased with the campaign that she and her team ran. In looking back, she said she believes that if she had started connecting with voters sooner, the outcome might have been “better.”
Ms. Fraga said where she was positioned on the ballot was a handicap, as voters had to look for her name. She was placed below Ms. Crumiller and Mr. Quinn by virtue of them getting the party endorsement earlier this year.
Still, John Heilner, who sits on the municipal Human Services Commission with Ms. Fraga and supported her council bid, said Wednesday that Ms. Fraga had entered the race as a virtual unknown and came within fewer than 60 votes of winning. He credited the work she put in, how she “just pounded the pavement” meeting voters, in his words.
She already is looking to her next race. She gave every indication that she would run for council again and, if one of the incumbents in 2017 – Jo S. Butler or Bernard P. Miller – opt against seeking re-election, she would jump at the opportunity.
“I’ll be back,” Ms. Fraga said.
For Ms. Neumann, this was her third time running for council— and her third defeat. Despite positioning herself as part of the “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party, she finished well behind the other three candidates. She could not be reached for comment.
