EAST ORANGE, NJ — According to the Essex County Clerk’s Office official website, as of 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 7, City Council Chairman and 3rd Ward Councilman Ted Green won the race for mayor by getting 9,336 votes or 99.88 percent of the total votes cast on Election Day.
The mayor-elect’s Team Green in 2017 running mates also swept the field, with all four incumbents running unopposed and winning: 1st Ward Councilman Chris James got 2,153 votes or 99.77 percent; 2nd Ward Councilman Romal Bullock got 1,306 votes or 100 percent; 4th Ward Councilwoman Tyshammie Cooper got 1,517 votes or 99.93 percent; and 5th Ward Councilwoman Alicia Holman got 1,894 votes or 99.79 percent. According to the Essex County Clerk’s Office early returns, Board of Education President Bergson Leneus defeated longtime East Orange Democrat and East Orange Democratic Committee stalwart Mayme Robinson, 1,686 votes or 77. 59 percent to 486 votes or 22.37 to claim the 3rd Ward City Council seat left vacant when Green ran for mayor, meaning Team Green in 2017 swept the slate..
Gubernatorial candidate Phil Murphy and Sheila Oliver, his candidate for lieutenant governor, also swept to victory in the statewide election.
According to the Essex County Clerk’s Office, the Murphy and Oliver ticket defeated Republican challenger and Lt. Gov. incumbent Kim Guadagno and her running mate, Carlos Rendo, 119,525 votes or 79.44 percent to 28,377 votes or 18.86 percent.
“I’m excited yet humbled to be the first-ever Haitian American Democratic Party nominee in the great city of East Orange. I owe a lot of gratitude to my parents, who as immigrants, migrated to East Orange. My parents taught me the value of hard work, Democratic values and seizing opportunity when the moment is available,” said Leneus on Tuesday, Oct. 17. “As someone who was born and raised in East Orange and am raising a family here, I know too well the struggles our families face trying to make ends meet. That is why I am running for council to lessen the hardships on working people. If elected, I will work to help stabilize property taxes, ensure that our residents realize the best services possible, and continue the fight for our children’s future.”
Green, the city’s new mayor-elect, will be officially sworn into office, along with Leneus and the other Team Green in 2017 members, on New Year’s Day, Monday, Jan. 1, 2018, at his inauguration ceremony at the City Council’s Reorganization Meeting.
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