Stephanie Lagos, the chief of staff to First Lady Tammy Murphy, is expected to become the new mayor of Bordentown City after emerging as the top vote-getter in a race for the three city commissioner seats.
Local tradition dictates that the candidate who receives the most votes becomes mayor.
Lagos, who is also Gov. Phil Murphy’s deputy chief of staff, finished first with 1,153 votes, and current mayor Jen Sciortino finished second with 982 votes. Grace Archer (834) leads Edward Foley IV (825) by nine votes in a contest for the third commissioner seat. A fifth candidate, Sean Reiter, has 509 votes.
Sciortino is also a top aide to Murphy.
Deputy Mayor Joe Myers did not seek re-election.
In Hainesport, Democratic Township Committeewoman Anna Evans (1,521) was re-elected and her running mate, Samantha Loveman (1,445) holds a 59-vote lead over Republican Mayor Leila Gilmore (1,386). Republican Rick Murphy (1,368) is 18 votes behind Gilmore.
Lumberton Township Committeewoman Lori Faye defeated GOP challenger Kate Abegg, 58%-42%. Republican Tim Boyd won a Mansfield Township Committee seat with 53% against Democrat Amarpreet Chauhan.
Republicans narrowly lead in a race for three seats on the Medford Township Committee: Michelle Voorhees (6,024), Thomas Juliano (5,934) and Angela Zografos (5,870) are ahead of Democrats Raymond Coxe (5,740), Jatinder Singh (5,697) and Katherine Santamore (5,810).
In Pemberton, Republican Councilman Diane Fanucci (317) was re-elected; Democratic incumbent Steven Fenster leads Republican Jill Crum by 28 votes, 281 to 253.