ORANGE, NJ — The polls for the municipal election on Tuesday, May 10, closed at 8 p.m. and, by 9 p.m., the results showed incumbent Orange Mayor Dwayne Warren had won re-election in a landslide victory against his challengers, former Zoning Board member Janice Morrell and East Ward Councilman Kerry Coley.
According to the preliminary 2016 municipal election results posted on the Essex County Clerk’s Office website, Warren won with 49.44 percent or 1,288 of the total 2,605 votes cast. Coley came in second place with 33.93 percent of the total votes, 884, cast, while Morrell placed third with 16.62 percent of the votes or 433 votes cast.
Even though Coley failed to unseat Warren, his Home Team ticket of at large candidates easily sailed to victory in the crowded race for the three contested seats. Of the 13 candidates seeking to fill the three at large council seats, incumbent Councilwoman Donna K. Williams garnered the most votes with 780, followed by Christopher Jackson with 599 and Vanessa Arroyave with 529.
Though Warren won re-election, he lost control of the council. Although Coley lost his mayoral bid, he still retains his East Ward Council seat and now, together with Williams, Jackson, Arroyave and West Ward Councilman Harold J. Johnson the Home Team has a five-person majority on the seven-member City Council, which may prove problematic for Warren during his second term as mayor.
Attempts to reach Warren for comment after his victory were unsuccessful by press time this week, but reactions to his win came swiftly from interested observers.
“Dwayne won 2 to 1, I’m hearing,” said Hillside Mayor Angela Garretson, an ally of Warren since the days when he served as the Hillside township attorney, on Tuesday, May 10.
Newark native Gerald Murphy, who worked on Warren’s re-election campaign, called the mayoral race in his candidate’s favor by 9:39 p.m.
“It’s over,” said Murphy via text message on Tuesday, May 10, after the polls in Orange closed. “Warren wins.”
According to the preliminary election results posted on the Essex County Clerk’s website, 5,154 total votes were cast in the Orange City Council race. Although the Home Team took a combined 37 percent of the total vote, the rest of the field registered: Adrienne Wooten, 491; Jeffrey Wingfield, 355; Andrea Elliott, 369; Sharief Williams, 366; incumbent Councilman and City Council Vice President Elroy Corbitt, 354; former Councilman Rayfield Morton, 343; incumbent Councilwoman and City Council President April Gaunt-Butler, 328; Merlin Hackett, 323; Joseph Juliano, 169; and Ashley Cartwright, 143. There were five write-in votes, according to the website, as of Tuesday, May 10, at 9:41 p.m.
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