Democrats easily won all six ward seats up for election to City Council, according to unofficial results posted by the Union County Clerk’s Office.

Become a Patron of RahwayRising.com

The closest race was in the 3rd Ward where Vannie Deloris Parson (D) defeated Dan Gagnon (R) by a vote of 770 (71%) 1,482 (65%) to 319 (29%) 788 (35%). Parson was appointed to the seat in August after Bob Bresenhan stepped down.

There were three-way races in the 1st and 5th Wards where Democrats turned away challenges from Republicans and Independents. Democratic incumbents were unopposed in the 4th and 6th Wards. The county clerk’s office has updated voting totals daily; figures below are from Nov. 3 with updates in parentheses (Nov. 11  / Nov. 12 / Nov. 13 / Nov. 16).

1st Ward

• Rodney Farrar-D: 739 (84%)/1,310 (83%)/—/1,462 (82.5%)
• Patrick Cassio-R: 121(14%)/228 (15%)/—/270 (15%)
• Carlos Oasini-I: 15 (1.7%)/31 (2%)/—/39 (2%)

2nd Ward

• Michael Cox-D: 703 (77%)/1,185 (74%)/1,379 (74.5%)
• Libby Maljian-R: 214 (23%)/409 (26%)/469 (25.5%)

3rd Ward

• Vannie Deloris Parson-D: 770 (71%)/1,281 (66%)/1,482 (65%)
• Dan Gagnon-R: 319 (29%)/670 (34%)/788 (35%)

4th Ward

• David Brown-D: 981 (99.6%)/1,633 (99.5%)/1,846 (99.5%)

5th Ward

• Danielle “Danni” Newbury-D: 704 (76%)/1,196 (73%)/ 1,334 (72%)
• Dave Straka-R: 186 (20%)/380 (23%)/437 (24%)
• Hanif Denny-I: 32 (3.5%)/60 (4%)/69 (4%)

6th Ward

• Joseph Gibilisco-D: 861 (99%)/1,441 (98.56%)/1,624 (98%)

There are 20,694 registered voters in Rahway this year. Election results are unofficial and typically will be certified by the county clerk Nov. 20 in about a week or so. Results were not yet available at the municipal level for other races, including president and the three state public questions. I’ll post those and more details once they’re available.

At the county level, Democrat Joe Biden carried Union County with 88,984 136,519 143,940 votes (72.48%/68.07%/67.1%) while Republican Donald Trump tallied 32,422 61,281/ 67,436 votes (26.41%/30.55%/31.44%).

In the last presidential election (2016), Hillary Clinton carried 23 of Rahway’s 24 voting districts, with 70 percent of the vote, a total of 7,787 votes to Trump’s 2,931. The lone district that Trump won was District 4 in the 6th Ward, with about 54 percent of the vote.

Board of Education

1. Carlos Garay (RST): 2,401 (16.82%)/4,142 (16.61%)/4,228 (16.65%)/4,706 (16.57%) /4,741 (16.55%)
2. Jennifer Moteiro (CE): 2,222 (15.57%)/3,939 (15.8%)/4,009 (15.79%)/4,519 (15.91%)/4,563 (15.93%)
3. Dorian Timmons, (RST): 2,209 (15.42%)/3,804 (15.26%)/3,869 (15.24%)/4,285/ 4,316 (15.07%)
4. Sean White (CE): 2,092 (14.65%)/—/—/4,269 (15.03%)/4,312 (15.05%)
5. Thomas O’Reilly (RST): 2,142 (15.01%)/3,766 (15.1%)/3,832 (15.01%)/4,254 (14.98%)/ 4,281 (14.95%)
6. Bernard Robson (CE): 2,083 (14.59%)/3,675 (14.74%)/—/4,223 (14.87)/4,271 (14.91%)
7. Deborah Bridges: 624 (4.37%)/—/—/1,128 (3.97%)/1,138 (3.97%)
8. Edward Quinn: 462 (3.24%)/—/—/919 (3.24%)/ 928 (3.24%)

The top three vote-getters are elected to three, three-year terms. Timmons and O’Reilly are separated by about 67 38 31 votes, roughly 3 0.99 0.72 percent. In the latest update, on Nov. 13, White is now 16 votes (0.37 percent) from third place.

As of the Nov. 16 update of Vote by Mail Ballots, Timmons holds a lead of just 4 votes (0.092 percent) with partial Provisional Ballot results to be published.

Two-year unexpired term

1. Joanna Macaluso, (RST): 2,419, (52.91%)/4,193 (52.25%)/—/4,757 (51.98%)/4,787 (51.84%)
2. Shanna Raysick, (CE): 2,139 (46.78%)/3,803 (47.39)/—/4,360 (47.65%)/4,414 (47.8%)

Rahway Strong Together (RST) was a slate of candidates — Garay, Timmons, O’Reilly and Macaluso — backed by the Rahway Democratic Committee. Robson, Moteiro, White and Raysick ran together on a ticket called Children’s Education 1st (CE).

Don’t forget, you can support RahwayRising.com by becoming a Patron.