Three months after his upset loss at the Morris GOP convention, Tom Mastrangelo has won the Republican primary for a fifth term as a county commissioner in an off the line victory.
He defeated Mendham Township Committeewoman Sarah Neibart by 838 votes. He will now run on with longtime incumbent Douglas Cabana and Christine Myers, a former freeholder, in the general election. Neibart had beaten Mastrangelo by 75 votes at the party convention on March 4.
Mastrangelo benefitted from a good ballot position – he was bracketed with congressional candidate Paul DeGroot in Column 2, even though the two never requested to run together – and for attacks on Neibart for supporting a “drag queen story hour” during LGBTQ Pride Month last year.
“It’s truly unfortunate that this primary turned into a cavalcade of political smears, lies, and distortions,” Neibart said in a concession statement.
Morris County GOP Chair Laura Marie Ali called Mastrangelo’s assault on Neibart “reprehensible.”
Mastrangelo won Parsippany by 324 votes and his hometown of Montville by 279.
Cabana drew the most votes with 23,515, followed by Myers with 21,341. A fifth candidate, Joseph Coppola, finished last with 12,878 votes.
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