Close West Windsor contests ends with incumbents winning 2 of 3 seats

In an extraordinarily close race where just 87 votes separated the top vote-getter in the race for three seats on the West Windsor Township Council with the sixth-place finisher, two of the three incumbents on the ballot were narrowly re-elected.

Andrea Sue Mandel (2,783) and Sonia Gawas (2,768) won second terms, but Dan Weiss, who headed an insurgent, anti-development slate, was elected with 2,759 votes.

Weiss finished twelve votes in front of his running mate, Stacey Fox (2,747); the third candidate on their ticket, Ben Finkelstein, received 2,739 votes.

Councilman Michael Ray Stevens, who ran with Mandel and Gawas, received 2,696 votes and lost to Weiss by 63 votes.

The challenger slate, which opposed high-profile development projects like Bridge Point 8, had the support of the Mercer County Democratic leadership, with help coming from high-profile Democrats: East Windsor Mayor and Mercer County Democratic Chair Janice Mironov; Assemblyman and County Executive candidate Dan Benson (D-Hamilton); Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown); State Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence); and Assemblyman Anthony Verrelli (D-Hopewell).

Local development issues led to GOP upsets in other train station towns, including Millburn, Summit, and Westfield.

Mandel, the council president, Gawas, and Stevens were elected to the council in 2019.

Weiss, a Microsoft executive, is president of the West Windsor Democratic Club.  Fox is a former Miss New Jersey and the executive director of the Mercer County Defense League, a grassroots environmental group.  Finkelstein is a teacher.