Albio Sires by the numbers

Albio Sires was the top vote-getter in Tuesday’s non-partisan municipal election in West New York, where he will get a second turn as mayor, a post he held for eleven years before his election to Congress in 2006.

Sires, 72, defeated Cosmo Cirillo, a three-term town commissioner who is half his age, by 1,404 votes, a head-to-head margin of 61%-39% in a ten-candidate field for five seats on the local governing body.  He benefited greatly from the support of Brian P. Stack, the mayor of Union City and a state senator.  Stack took personal charge of the campaign and mobilized an army of campaign workers, including hundreds that came with him from Union City every day.

Turnout is at roughly 26%, an astronomical number for a May election.  As a comparison, Newark had a turnout of just 10% when Mayor Ras Baraka sought re-election in 2022.

Sires received 3,877 votes, followed by incumbent Victor Barrera (3,783), school board members Adam Parkinson (3,742) and Marielka Diaz (3,737), and former Republican congressional candidate Marcos Arroyo (3,701).

Cirillo led his own slate with 2,473 votes, followed by incumbent Margarita Guzman (2,413), Assemblywoman Angelica Jimenez (2,389), and newcomers Walter Lopez (2,364) and Hiram Gonzalez (2,358).

Sires carried the Election Day machine votes by a margin of 801 over Cirillo, 2,850-2,049 (58%-42%), and carried all three wards in the town; his margin was 105 votes in Ward 1, 213 in Ward 2, and 95 in Ward 3.   Sires outpolled Cirillo in 21 of the town’s 28 districts, and tied him in one district.

Vote-by-mail ballots broke heavily to Sires: 1,027 to 424 against Cirillo, 71%-29%, a 603-vote margin.   Early in-person votes cast on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday went to Sires by 388 votes, 789-401 (66%-34%).