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BERKELEY
HEIGHTS – Republican State Senator Thomas Kean of Westfield
and Republican Assemblymen Jon Bramnick of Westfield and Eric
Munoz of Summit won their re-election bids for their District-21
seats on Tuesday night.
Incomplete
results showed Mr. Kean receiving 28,077 votes, winning a second
term and defeating Democrat Gina Genovese, a former Long Hill
Township mayor, who received 18,759 votes.
Mr.
Bramnick won his third term with 25,714 votes, while Mr. Munoz
won a fourth term with 25,831 votes. They defeated Democrats
Bruce Bergen of Springfield, who received 16,751 votes, and
Norman Albert of Cranford, who garnered 16,491 tallies.
Green
Party candidates George DeCarlo and Ryan Reyes received 1,172
and 1,126 votes, respectively.
The
victorious Republicans spoke to supporters, including Rep. Mike
Ferguson (R-7th) and former Rep. Bob Franks, at Mt. Carmel Hall
in Berkeley Heights about two hours after the polls closed. Mr.
Kean and Mr. Bramnick hailed the Republican victories in local
municipal elections, including Westfield and Fanwood, while Mr.
Munoz promised to “fight hard” for “responsible fiscal
policies and ethics” in Trenton.
Speaking
to The Westfield Leader, Mr. Bramnick said partisanship
in Trenton “has to end. The state is in serious crisis.”
He
called on Governor Jon Corzine to “sit down with the best and
the brightest of both parties” to solve the issues facing
state government.
“Get
rid of the politics,” he said. “Get rid of the
partisanship.”
Mr.
Kean told The Leader the Legislature should focus on
three priorities when it reconvenes in January. First, he said,
is “a new school-funding formula” so that “towns like
Westfield and Mountainside receive the school aid they
deserve.”
Second,
he said, is economic development. “We need to create new jobs
and opportunities in this state,” he said.
Third,
Mr. Kean said, it is time for “true and comprehensive ethics
reform.” He also said he wanted to block any proposed sale or
lease of the New Jersey Turnpike or Garden State Parkway.
Ms.
Genovese said at her election-night party at the Primavera
Restaurant in Stirling that it was “not a good night for
Democrats, not a good night for stem-cell research.”
“I
don’t regret [the campaign],” she said.
“Everyone
is so solemn. This is not a funeral,” she told supporters who
clapped and chanted “Gina, Gina…”
“The
last five months of my life has been the best five months of my
life. I would never change a thing. I was testing democracy, and
it didn’t work. I was saying I had the best team in New
Jersey,” she said. “I do have the best team in New
Jersey.”
“I
turned a lot of kids on to politics and probably now turned off
of politics,” Ms. Genovese said. “I guess negativity wins
and scare tactics win. That’s what’s really scary about
today. It doesn’t look good for stem-cell research. It
doesn’t look good for people who try to take the high road.
That’s a disappointment today…That is why I have no regrets
for what I did.”
Ms.
Genovese said she would not run again for Senate or for office
in Long Hill.
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