By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
Republicans cruised to landslide wins Tuesday night in the First Legislative District election and also swept the Cape May County races for the Board of Commissioners, sheriff and surrogate.
Incumbent Republicans Sen. Michael Testa and Assemblymen Antwan McClellan and Erik Simonsen easily brushed aside their Democratic opponents in the First Legislative District race to lock up new terms in the state Legislature.
About 15 minutes before the polls closed at 8 p.m., Testa confidently addressed supporters at the Republican election headquarters at the Bellevue Tavern in Cape May Court House.
He looked at Cape May County Republican Chairman Michael Donohue and guaranteed that Donohue would remain “undefeated” as county chairman once the votes were counted. Donohue smiled broadly.
Testa, McClellan and Simonsen capitalized on their advantage in the Republican stronghold of Cape May County by building up an insurmountable lead over Democratic Senate candidate Charles R. Laspata and Democrats Damita White-Morris and Eddie L. Bonner in the Assembly race.
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, the unofficial results in Cape May County showed Testa beating Laspata by a more than 2-to-1 margin. Testa garnered 16,896 votes to Laspata’s 7,694.
In Cape May County, Simonsen had 16,549 votes and McClellan 16,334, while White-Morris and Bonner received 7,529 and 7,525, respectively.
The First Legislative District includes all of Cape May County and parts of Atlantic and Cumberland counties. Testa, McClellan and Simonsen first won the district in the 2019 election by ousting the then-Democratic incumbents.
“The red wave started here. And like a thermostat, that red is going up the state,” Testa said of Republican gains statewide starting in the First Legislative District.
Simonsen and McClellan said they believed Republicans were boosted by their opposition to the offshore wind energy farms at the Jersey Shore and the state’s controversial sex and health education standards that critics thought were too explicit for schoolchildren.
Cape May County and Ocean City were among the groups that filed lawsuits to try to block the development of two offshore wind farms in South Jersey. The developer, the Danish energy giant Orsted, announced last week that it is withdrawing from the projects because of their financial uncertainty.
Simonsen, a career educator and athletic director at the Lower Cape May Regional School District, said the school sex education curriculum mandated by the state was little more than “crazy stuff.” He predicted Republican opposition to the sex standards should help Republicans in the Legislature.
McClellan said the Republicans’ “commonsense” approach to major issues resonated with voters.
He said another key issue in the election was Republican opposition to Gov. Phil Murphy’s juvenile justice reforms. Republicans complained that the reforms effectively handcuffed police from arresting troublemaking teenagers at the Jersey Shore during the pivotal summer tourism season.
Asserting that the state was unwilling to help them, Ocean City and Sea Isle City were among the shore towns that developed their own strategies to respond to an outburst of underage drinking, fighting, assaults and other rowdy behavior by large groups of teens.
Meanwhile, in the Cape May County Board of Commissioners race Tuesday, Republican incumbent Will Morey won a new three-year term. Republican newcomer Melanie Collette also won a three-year term on the Board of Commissioners to become the first black woman in Cape May County history to be elected to the board.
Democratic candidate Patricia O’Connor fell short in her bid for the Board of Commissioners. The Democrats did not run a second candidate for the board.
In Cape May County, Collette had 16,798 votes and Morey 16,347. O’Connor had 8,498 votes.
Collette said she was elated to make history in the election. She noted that, as a black woman, she will be able to bring a different perspective and more diversity to the Board of Commissioners.
“I’m a true believer that diversity in thought is important,” she said in an interview.
Morey won his fifth term on the board. He thanked Collette and his other supporters for their hard work during the campaign.
“I’m excited about the next chapter,” Morey said. “I’m excited about the challenges before us.”
The Republicans scored a trifecta in the Board of Commissioners election. Republican Bob Barr, who was appointed to the board over the summer to fill a vacancy, ran unopposed Tuesday to win a two-year unexpired term.
“I ran like I was opposed,” Barr said of his hard work during the campaign.
With the wins by Morey, Collette and Barr, Republicans continue to hold all five commission seats.
Also in Cape May County, Republican E. Marie Hayes won the surrogate’s race over Democratic challenger Beverly McCall.
Hayes formerly served on the county’s Board of Commissioners, but was appointed surrogate in July to replace former Surrogate Dean Marcolongo when he was nominated as a state Superior Court judge. Tuesday’s election was for a full five-year term as surrogate.
Hayes said she reluctantly left the Board of Commissioners to run for surrogate, but felt she “needed to step up” to another office. She noted that her experience dealing with family crises during her nearly 30-year career with the Cape May County Prosecutor’s Office should serve her well while handling family and probate challenge as surrogate.
In the final Cape May County race, Republican Sheriff Bob Nolan won re-election to a three-year term without facing Democratic opposition.
