Bayonne 3rd Ward council candidate Tommy Gillen, a retired Hudson County sheriff’s office detective who ran on Mayor-elect Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski’s ticket, is likely on a collision course for a June 9th runoff with Council President Gary La Pelusa after winning round 1.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
Gillen leads La Pelusa, who is serving his fourth term as 3rd Ward councilman, by 358 votes or just under 10 points: 1,710 to 1,352, according to tallies from the Hudson County Clerk’s Office.
The challenger sits at 47.04 percent of the vote at the moment, about three points shy of avoiding a runoff. Pat Devaney came in third place with 349 votes, with John Milan Sebik coming in last with 196 votes (they both ran independently).
“Everybody did a tremendous job, our team is amazing, everybody that worked together worked hard every day. The people in this room who worked hard every single day for all of us, I want to say thank you,” Gillen said at Ashe-Nadrowski’s victory party at The Chandelier last night.
“I hope they continue to do it to push me and Melissa over the edge and we make this Team Sharon, 100 percent, all the way!”
At Councilman at-Large Loyad Booker’s watch party at Villa Maria, where he conceded the mayoral race early, La Pelusa didn’t seem to be under the impression that he could make a runoff at that time and took a statesman-like approach to the situation.
“It was a very, very long campaign. We appreciate all the support you gave us. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top, I want to congratulate the winners. Congratulate even the people who didn’t win, we all worked hard. I think everybody wants the best for Bayonne, even some of the other opponents who ran independent, ” La Pelusa stated.
“I just want to say that we’re not done, we’re gonna be involved in town and in a couple months they’ll be a new City Council and very soon they’ll be a new mayor and I have to pledge my support to them, whatever they need, I will help them as well. No animosity, if there’s any hurt feelings or whatever, I think we should leave ’em in this room tonight and wish everybody the best because we want the best for our town.”
Ashe-Nadrowski easily defeated Booker by a more than 2-1 margin, roughly 32 points, and also secured first ballot wins for her council at-large running mates Mark Bottino and Mariam Salama, along with 1st Ward Councilman-elect Gene Perry, as HCV first reported.
In the 2nd Ward, Board of Education Trustee Melissa Godesky-Rodriguez won the first round, also part of Team Ashe-Nadrowski, but the race for second place is too close to call between Omar Elgarhi and former 2nd Ward Councilman Sal Gullace – who ran with Booker.
That race will certainly head to a runoff whether it is Elgarhi or Gullace who competes against Godesky-Rodriguez.
Editor’s note: News correspondents Dan Ulloa and Dan Israel contributed to this report.
