Some primary contests still close, final tally unlikely until next week

Local primaries in Piscataway, Haledon, Linden, Oakland and Linden remain too close to call.

None of these races will be decided until early next week, when late-arriving vote-by-mail and provisional ballots are fully counted and cure letters are chased and confirmed.  It’s unclear how many uncounted ballots are in hand for these primaries.

Just one vote separates two candidates for the Republican nomination for mayor in Linden, a city that hasn’t elected a GOP mayor in 58 years.  Russell Jones, who ran off the line, leads Ricardo Maldonado, 202 to 201.

The Democratic incumbent, Derek Armstead, ran unopposed after receiving the blessing of Senate President Nicholas Scutari, the Union County Democratic chairman.

The four-way Republican primary for two seats on the Oakland Borough Council remains tight.  Carol Ann Rose, who ran off the line with the backing of GOP congressional candidate Frank Pallotta, has 293 votes, followed by organization candidate John McCann, a two-time candidate for Congress – he lost the 2020 primary to Pallotta – who has 292 votes.  Trailing are incumbent Kevin Slasinski (288) and the other Pallotta-backed candidate, Kerri Sirinides (285).

McCann, who lost a race against Rep. Josh Gottheimer in 2018, was appointed to fill a vacant council seat just two weeks ago.

Four-term Haledon Mayor Domenick Stampone trails Michael Johnson, a former councilman who fell out of favor with the local Democratic organization, by 13 votes, 271 to 258.   Republican Kenneth Pentigore, a former mayor who Stampone unseated in 2006, is the GOP candidate.

A 30-vote lead on election night for Piscataway Ward 3 Township Council candidate Sharon Carmichael is now down to 21, 696 to 675 in a Democratic primary against Staci Berger, a statewide progressive leader who mounted an off-the-line campaign.

In the Democratic primary for Palisades Park Borough Council, Councilman Michael Vietri leads Paul Kim by 13 votes, 373 to 360.  Vietri ran on an organization line with successful mayoral candidate Chong “Paul” Kim, while a different Paul Kim, a Planning board member, ran off the line with incumbent Mayor Chris Chung.  School board member Jason Kim, Vietri’s running mate, finished first with 394 votes, 60 votes in front of school board member Anieska Garcia.

There are still seven close races for Republican county committee in  Toms River.  Later this month, Sheriff Michael Mastronardy and George Gilmore will face off in a race for Ocean County GOP Chairman.  Incumbent Frank Holman is not seeking re-election and Gilmore faces a tough race to get back the job he held for 23 years until a jury convicted him on federal tax charges in 2019.

In Monmouth County, 1,369 write-in votes were cast in the Democratic primary for sheriff, but they won’t be fully tallied until next week.

Democrats lost their candidate after the filing deadline when Manuel Caravela didn’t meet a three-year statutory residency requirement for sheriff candidates.  The Monmouth Democratic organization recruited Larry Luttrell, an attorney who lost races for freeholder in 2014 and 2018, to mount a write-in bid.  The incumbent sheriff, Shaun Golden, defeated former Freeholder Gary Rich by a 2-1 margin.