Politics & Government
Campbell, Bennett Win Republican Council Primary
Republican Peter B. Campbell previously said he would likely "step aside" if he won Tuesday's Primary election; Fort Lee voters overwhelming support Rep. Steve Rothman, who was upset by Rep. Bill Pascrell.
In the only contested municipal primary election race in Fort Lee Tuesday, Republican candidates for Borough Council Thomas Bennett and Peter B. Campbell, who were running together, easily defeated Rosanna Surace, who was running alone.
Campbell received 468 votes, Bennett received 467 and Surace nabbed just 107 votes, even though Campbell said this week if he won and endorse Surace if she won.
“Whatever the case, I probably will be stepping aside for another candidate if I’m not eliminated in the primaries,” Campbell told Patch. “And if I am eliminated by Surace, then she would have the full weight of my endorsement.”
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If Campbell does bow out, the nomination does not automatically go to Surace, but rather falls to the Republican County Committee to decide.
“The withdrawals are a separate procedure,” Borough Clerk Neil Grant told Patch earlier this week. “There’s a timeframe to clear a vacancy and then put up another candidate. That’s how [former Council candidate] Al Norton ran last year.”
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On the Democratic side, incumbent Fort Lee Councilmen Joseph Cervieri, Jr. and Harvey Sohmer were running unopposed for the nominations for two three-year seats being contested in this year’s election.
Cervieri received 1,939 votes, while 1,985 Fort Lee Democrats voted for Sohmer Tuesday.
In the bitter contest for the Democratic nomination for New Jersey’s 9th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Steve Rothman (D-Englewood) received 2,149 votes from Fort Lee Democrats, easily outpacing his opponent, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson), who received just 433 votes locally in in the reconfigured district, which includes parts of Bergen, Passaic and Hudson Counties.
Meanwhile Fort Lee Republicans chose Shmuley Boteach, who earned 433 votes locally, over his opponents, Blase Billack and Hector Castillo, who received 48 and 12 votes respectively in Fort Lee. Boteach ultimately won his party’s nomination and will face Pascrell in November.
For a complete rundown by election district of how Fort Lee voted, see the charts on the right.
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