Politics & Government
Bedminster Voters Mostly Support Lonegan, But 43% Back Booker
Just over 28 percent of registered voters turn out for special election for U.S. Senator.
A majority of Bedminster Township voters who cast a ballot in Wednesday's special election for a U.S. Senate to represent New Jersey — 1,051 of them —supported Republican Steven Lonegan in a town where local Republicans have a majority control.
However, Democrat Cory Booker, the mayor of Newark, also attracted 791 votes, or just under 43 percent, in the unofficial vote count released on Wednesday night by Bedminster Township's administrator and clerk.
That translates into almost 57 percent in favor of Lonegan, with a small fraction going to other candidates listed on the ballot to fill out the final 15 months of the late Democrat Frank Lautenberg's term in the U.S. Senate. Lonegan, the former mayor of Bogota in Bergen County, in his campaigning urged House Republicans “not to capitulate to the president’s unreasonable demands."
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Just over 28 percent of registered voters in the township cast a ballot on an atypical election day held on a Wednesday in October, according to figures from Bedminster Township.
A very small percentage of votes also were cast for the other candidates listed on the ballot through petition. Edward C. Stackhouse, Jr. received 5 votes; Pablo Olivera, 1; Eugene Martin LaVergne, 0; Robert DePasquale, 0; Antonio Nico Sabas, 1; and Stuart David Meissner, 1, according to the township clerk's office.
Find out what's happening in Bernardsville-Bedminsterwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
The election was held to vote in a new New Jersey representative in the U.S. Senate to fulfill the unexpired term, lasting through the end of 2014, to represent Lautenberg, the longtime Democrat U.S. Senator who died in office at age 89 last June.
Official results will be released by the Somerset County clerk's office.
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