Councilman James Clancy cruised to re-election in Ward 2 on Tuesday, 1,154 votes to 43 write-in votes, according to unofficial Hudson County results with all five of the ward’s districts reporting.
Clancy was the only name on the ballot, but not the only candidate. Resident David Kraatz ran a write-in campaign, announced at the Oct. 13 council meeting and driven largely by the town’s data center fight. The county reports write-ins as a single total, so it isn’t yet known how many of the 43 were for Kraatz.
Councilman John Gerbasio in Ward 1 and Councilwoman Orietta Tringali in Ward 3 also won new terms. Both were unopposed.
Write-Ins Jump
The write-ins are the biggest change from Clancy’s past races. His 2018 race drew 4 write-ins, and his 2022 race drew 7. This year’s 43 made up 3.6% of Ward 2’s council votes, about triple the usual 1% in an unopposed Secaucus council race.
Write-ins rose across town, though, including in Ward 1 and Ward 3, where no one announced a write-in campaign. Ward 2 did stand out most on Election Day, when write-ins reached 4.2% of council votes, compared with 3.1% in Ward 1 and 2.0% in Ward 3.
Clancy’s Support Holds Steady
Clancy’s share of the vote tells a steadier story. About 61% of Ward 2 voters cast a vote for him this year. That’s down from about 72%* in 2022 but up from 56% in 2018.
He also ran well ahead of the town’s other two council incumbents, as he did in 2018 and 2022. Gerbasio drew 45% of Ward 1 ballots, and Tringali drew 48% in Ward 3. About half of voters in those wards left the council race blank, compared with about 37% in Ward 2.
Wards 1 and 3, and the School Board
The town’s other two council races were quiet. With every district reporting:
- Ward 1: Councilman John Gerbasio, 559 votes; write-ins, 17
- Ward 3: Councilwoman Orietta Tringali, 1,011 votes; write-ins, 23
Three candidates ran for three seats on the Board of Education:
- Dina Khiry Gerbasio: 1,852 votes
- Katherine Nguyen: 1,762 votes
- Anthony Graniere: 1,689 votes
- Write-ins: 207 votes
What Ward 2 Was Saying
The results show what Ward 2 voters did, but not why. Clancy had the public backing of Mayor Michael Gonnelli, who cheered him on in Facebook posts. A share of the vote within Clancy’s usual range could reflect approval of his record, the mayor’s support, loyalty to a familiar name, or doubts about the write-in challenger. The numbers can’t tell those apart. They do show the write-in campaign registered: 43 votes, ten times Clancy’s 2018 total, but fewer than 1 in 25 Ward 2 council votes.
Results are unofficial. Mail-in and provisional ballots are still being counted, and the county’s write-in tally will show how many of the 43 votes were for Kraatz. The county usually certifies results about two weeks after the election.
*The 2022 figures are estimates. The county didn’t report how many ballots were cast in each ward that year, so we used the number of votes in each ward’s U.S. House race instead.