Freeholders re-elected
By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff
CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE – Conservative Cape May County voters helped propel U.S. Rep. Jeff Van Drew back to Congress, giving him a wide margin of votes in the Nov. 3 election along with decisively voting for other Republicans from freeholder to president.
Van Drew, who was elected as a Democrat in the Second Congressional District in 2018, switched parties to the GOP at the end of 2019 and was elected as a Republican last week.
Although the tallying of votes continues, Van Drew is leading Democratic challenger Amy Kennedy with 174,187 votes to her 155,173.
Cape May County accounted for more than half of the differential, giving Van Drew 32,934 to Kennedy’s 20,784, a difference of more than 12,000.
Kennedy’s home county, Atlantic, gave her the edge but by a narrower margin of about 3,000 votes, 65,017 to 62,024. Cumberland County also supported Kennedy by about a 4,000-vote margin, but Van Drew won in Salem, Gloucester, Burlington and Ocean counties.
There are votes remaining to be counted in New Jersey and throughout the country, but Kennedy has conceded the race.
Cape May County GOP Chairman Mike Donohue trumpeted the results in the county in a press release after the Associated Press called the race for Van Drew.
“On behalf of all of our volunteers, committee members, elected officials and supporters, I want to congratulate Congressman Van Drew on his re-election,” Donohue wrote. “I also want to congratulate everyone in the CapeGOP family for delivering such a decisive victory for our congressman. With aggressive local efforts, including campaigns in Lower Township, Middle Township, Upper Township and Dennis Township, our relentless freeholder campaign, as well as the effort our CapeGOP Federal Campaigns Coordinator Bobby Barr and his compatriots undertook in Ocean City, CapeGOP was able to command a decisive margin to help return Jeff Van Drew to Congress.”
“Way back before they shut the world down, we welcomed Congressman Van Drew into our CapeGOP family and pledged our support for his re-election,” Donohue wrote. “We kept our promise and Jeff Van Drew will continue as our Republican congressman.”
“I would like to thank President Trump as well as all of the Republican, Democrat and independent voters who stood with me and continued to place their trust in me to fight for them and all of south Jersey in Washington,” Van Drew said in his own release. “The United States of America is an exceptional nation and I will continue to work with anyone willing to put party aside to fight for a strong America and a strong south Jersey.”
Kennedy conceded the race Friday evening.
“While this is obviously not the result that I was hoping for, my fight for the people of south Jersey does not end tonight,” Kennedy said. “I decided to run for Congress almost a year ago, because south Jersey is my home. It has been my family’s home for four generations, and I want future generations of my family, and all of our families, to be able to call it their home as well.
“I believe that south Jersey can build back better. I believe everyone here deserves better-paying jobs, affordable health care and a strong, diverse economy,” she added. “I believe that south Jersey’s working families deserve the protections they need and the benefits they have earned. And, I believe children born anywhere in the district, regardless of the color of their skin, deserve equal access to opportunity and justice.”
National elections
Although President-elect Joe Biden carried New Jersey easily, Cape May County gave the majority of votes to incumbent President Donald Trump by a wide margin, though not as large as it voted for Van Drew.
According to the Cape May County Clerk’s Office, Trump received 31,498 votes to Biden’s 22,713.
Results were similar in the U.S. Senate race. Incumbent Democrat Cory Booker handily won New Jersey. Cape May County gave him 21,773 votes but gave his GOP opponent, Rik Mehta, 29,868.
Cape May County Sheriff Bob Nolan and Clerk Rita Marie Fulginiti were unopposed. Nolan got 38,633 votes and Fulginiti earned 40,387.
Freeholders re-elected
Incumbent Freeholders Will Morey and Jeffrey Pierson easily won re-election, getting 30,724 and 29,837 votes, respectively.
Their Democratic challengers, Elizabeth Casey and Brendan Sciarra, received 19,855 and 19,975, respectively.
Cape May County’s registration favors Republicans by a large margin and the last Democrat elected to the freeholder board was Van Drew more than two decades ago.
There are 31,306 registered Republicans in the county but only 18,711 registered Democrats. There are 25,419 unaffiliated voters.
Ballot questions
New Jersey voters approved all three statewide ballot questions, including legalizing marijuana, providing a tax break for veterans and allowing a delay in redistricting based on when the census is finished.
Cape May County voted nearly two to one for marijuana legalization, 34,333 to 18,0673, and nearly four to one for the tax break for veterans, 40,387 to 11,480.
The vote for the redistricting change was close, 25,803 in favor against 24,048 opposed.
Question one, which passed in the state by a nearly two-to-one margin, legalizes the recreational use of marijuana for persons 21 and older and legalizes the growing, processing and sale of retail marijuana.
Question two makes peacetime veterans eligible for a $250 property tax deduction.