Phillipsburg mayor wins 69% in Dem primary

Phillipsburg Mayor Steven Ellis defeated challenger Mark Lutz on Tuesday to win the Democratic nomination for a second term.

Ellis led Lutz, a councilman, by 202 votes, a 69%-31% margin.

The mayor’s running mates, Lee Clark and James P. Stettner, easily defeated Matthew Scerbo and Vickie Mendez-Branch, who ran with Lutz.

In the general election, Ellis will face Republican Todd Tersigni, a former two-term Democratic councilman who ran as an independent for mayor in 2011.

Ellis, who spent 35 years working for the New Jersey State Park Service, defeated four-term Republican incumbent Harry Wyant, Jr. in 2015.

Wyant is running for council on Tesigni’s ticket.