Elections 2017: 18 year-old falls short in school board bid

In a non-partisan race in Sparta on Tuesday, Jared Chiariello, the 18-year-old high school student running for the Board of Education, came close to gaining a seat but fell less than a hundred votes shy. Chiariello, with 2,865 votes, came in fourth in a run for three seats on the board. Incumbent Kylen Anderson was the top vote-getter with 3,607, followed by newcomers Jason Ventresca with 3,137 and Joann Hoover with 2,961.
Meanwhile, a Democrat won the governorship and Republicans triumphed in most state and local races in Sussex County on Tuesday.
Phil Murphy will be the next governor of New Jersey. The financier and former US ambassador to Germany will succeed Chris Christie and become the state’s 56th chief executive. Murphy, the Democratic candidate, was declared the winner over the Republican, current Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, in Tuesday’s election by all major news outlets within minutes after polls closed at 8 pm. He garnered over 55 percent of the vote.
Statewide, voters approved two ballot questions: One, to allow the state to borrow $125 million to modernize public libraries; and two, to not allow lawmakers to divert funds taggedt for environmental cleanup to balance the budget.
In Sussex County, according to the unofficial results released by the county clerk’s office, Republicans maintained their dominance in state legislative races, with GOP incumbent state Sen. Steven Oroho defeating Democratic challenger Jennifer Hamilton with 25,325 votes to Hamilton’s 16,017, a 60 percent margin. Incumbent Republican Assemblyman Parker Space netted 24,039 votes and his running mate Harold Wirths got 24,039, as they handily defeated Democrats Kate Matteson (15,787) and Gina Trish (14,152). In the race for the one open seat on the county Board of Chosen Freeholders Republican Herb Yardley beat Democrat Dan Perez, 23,868 to 16,892. The county, where of over 103,000 registered voters 41 percent turned out, went 60 percent for Guadagno. County voters also approved the expansion of uses for the county's Farmland, Preservation and Open Space Trust Fund. In Byram, newcomer Alexander Rubenstein upset sitting Councilman David Gray in the race for mayor. Rubenstein got 1,371 votes to Gray’s 1,255. Another newcomer, property tax hawk Harvey Roseff won the open seat on the township council. Roseff netted 1,091 votes, over 40 percent, in defeating his two rivals.
In Stanhope, for two seats on the borough council, Democrats and Republicans split, with Thomas Romano (R) taking 564 votes and Michael Depew (D) getting 490.
In the race for two seats on the Andover Regional Board of Education, incumbent Eric C. Danielson and newcomer Amanda Miller defeated incumbent Vincenia Annuzzi and Michele Corby.