Three win BOE seats

First-time candidate Amelia Sherr was the leading vote-getter in a six-candidate race for three Board of Education seats, which also saw one incumbent get a new term and another defeated.

The school board race topped the Middlesex Borough ballot in the Tuesday, Nov. 7 general election. There was no contest for the mayoralty and two Borough Council seats as Republican candidates ran without Democratic opponents.

Vote totals in this post were taken from the Middlsex County Clerk’s website.

In the board election, Sherr was the leader with 1,090 votes, followed by Amanda Bayachek with 1,053 and incumbent board member Todd Nicolay with 974. Sherr, Bayachek and Nicolay all won new three-year terms.

Trailing were Lucia Laranjeiro with 913 votes, incumbent Sharon Schueler with 752, and John Sousa with 586. Schueler has served on the board since April 2008.

Nicolay is the current board president, Sherr, Bayachek and Laranjeiro had run as a team, expressing concerns about state education policies clashing with parental rights.

Three-term Councilman Jack Mikolajczyk won a four-year term as mayor, running unopposed. Winning new three-year council terms, were Mikolajczyk’s Republican running mates Michael Conahan and Kevin Dotey.

Mikolajczyk received 1,646 votes, Conahan had 1,647 and Dotey got 1,591. Conahan is the current council president. Dotey has served on the council previously as a Democrat, last winning election in 2016.

Although the GOP slate ran unopposed on the ballot, some voters still chose to back other candidates. There were 59 write-in votes cast for mayor and 77 cast for council. The names of those receiving write-in votes will be available in the coming weeks.

Middlesex’s new 21st District legislative team – State Sen. Jon Bramnick and Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz and Michele Matsikoudis – won new terms, defeating Democratic opponents.

Late night districtwide results, though not yet final, showed Bramnick leading Democrat Matt Marino, 54.5% to 45.5%. Munoz had 26.6% and Matsikoudis stood at 26.2%, leading Democrats Chris Weber and Elizabeth Graner, who each had 23.6%.

In another election of interest, it appears that two Democrats won seats on the Flemington Borough Council, one by only 14 votes. If the results hold, Republican Mayor Marcia Karrow – the former Middlesex borough administrator – will serve the second year of her mayoral term in 2024 with a council comprising all Democrats.

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