While it appeared to be a competitive GOTV effort, North Bergen Mayor Nick Sacco has again bested challenger Larry Wainstein by a comfortable margin, securing re-election to his eighth term.
By John Heinis and Marc Bussanich
Sacco again won by a definitive margin, despite a fairly aggressive campaign down the stretch by Wainstein that talked about halting a potential power plant project, building a new school and improving infrastructure.
Wainstein has now lost back-to-back municipal elections to Sacco and while he’s proven to be a more game challenger than most have been, he has still failed to get within striking distance.
Furthermore, none of his running mates were able to compile vote tallies anywhere close to his, finishing all in a distant seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively.
On that point, Commissioners Julio Marenco, Hugo Cabrera, Frank Gargiulo and Allen Pascual all won decisively and will join Sacco for four more years in Town Hall.
Displayed on a TV in the mayor’s office at Town Hall, Sacco bested his opponent by a margin of 2-to-1, with Sacco receiving 8,768 votes to Wainstein’s 4,026 votes, according to the Hudson County Clerk’s Office.
In an interview at Town Hall, Sacco explained why he and his campaign coasted to another mayoral win.
“Moving our community forward. I think people see the improvements taking place. Even though some are still on paper, they know that it’s happening,” he began.
“They have a lot of faith that the new school is going to be [done], the new park is going to be in and the new recreation center and a new library, and all our parks being repaired. They all see this happening, and this is I think what the message is that people responded to.”
Thanks to councilpersons Ramos, Defusco and Fisher for all your financial and personal support.