DeLuca, Larrier Trounce Albini, Ziegler
With all 21 districts reporting, Dems win by a 3.5-to-1 margin over Republicans.
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India Larrier and Vic DeLuca thank their supporters at the Maplewood Pizzeria after winning the race for Maplewood Township Committee.
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The final totals are in — with 21 or 21 districts reporting — for the race for two seats on the Maplewood Township Committee and it's not even close.
Mayor Vic DeLuca has won re-election with a convincing 2,996 votes, followed by his running mate, Democratic newcomer India Larrier, with 2,887.
Republican challenger Bart Albini tallied 851 votes. His running mate, local attorney Joel Ziegler came in fourth with 808.
DeLuca and Larrier won by a 3.5-to-1 margin this year, whereas Marlon K. Brownlee won by a less than 3-to-1 margin last year (4,717 votes compared to 1,639 for Albini) when Albini ran a more aggressive campaign. Democrats Kathy Leventhal (4,908 votes) and Jerry Ryan (4,845) won by a 2.5-to-1 margin in 2009 against Republicans Bob Perez (2,011 votes) and Albini (1,940 votes).
This year's outcome was clearly not unexpected, owing to the fact that Democrats far outnumber Republicans in Maplewood in terms of voter registration. In addition, Albini and Ziegler campaigned minimally in this campaign — failing to appear at a candidates' forum or produce mailings and lawn signs.
DeLuca and Larrier celebrated with supporters at the Maplewood Pizzeria on Valley Street on Tuesday evening, before heading to the Wilshire Grand in West Orange to await results in the 27th District Assembly and Senate races. Both DeLuca and Larrier thanked their families; Larrier thanked her husband John and her children, while DeLuca thanked his wife Janey. Larrier spoke of getting down to work, particularly on working for more shared services and strengthening the town's business districts.
Maplewood also went big time for Assemblyman John McKeon (3,224 votes) and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (3,244). Republican challengers for the Assembly in the 27th district came in at 728 votes for Lee Holtzman and 725 for Nicole Hagner. Strong results in Essex County have helped propel Jasey and McKeon to victory.
For State Senate, Maplewood chose Senator Dick Codey with 3,431 votes over Tea Party candidate William H. Eames with 635 votes. Eames sent a release to the press at 10:12 p.m. conceding to Codey.
