East Brunswick Leans Strong Towards Christie, Stahl

Home field advantage did not prove to be the case for state Senator Barbara Buono in her landslide loss to Gov. Chris Christie on Tuesday, while East Brunswick supported current Mayor David Stahl in his narrow loss for Buono's state senate seat. 

Despite being represented by Buono in the 18th District, East Brunswick voters gave strong support to the incumbent governor, as Christie waltzed back to Drumthwacket with an estimated 60-39 percent victory over his Democratic challenger. East Brunswick fell in line with the rest of the state, as Gov. Christie handily won all 40 districts in the township.

The final unofficial tally in the township saw Christie receive 7,823 votes to Buono's 4,699 votes. 

"How about this, New Jersey?'' Christie said to an overflow crowd at Convention Hall in Asbury Park Tuesday evening. "Tonight, I stand here as your governor and I am so proud.''

The closest Buono came to winning a district in East Brunswick was in township district 18, where Christie received 71 votes to Buono's 60.

In her concession speech, Buono slammed members of her party Tuesday after losing the race to the Republican incumbent, according to The Huffington Post.

"The Democratic political bosses, some elected and some not, made a deal with this governor," she said, according to NorthJersey.com. "They didn’t do it for the state. They did it out of a desire to help themselves."

In a losing bid for the seat left vacant when Buono decided to pursue the governor’s seat, District 18 Assemblyman Peter Barnes narrowly defeated East Brunswick Mayor David Stahl by a total of 24,957 votes to 23,102 votes.

Stahl won in his hometown by receiving 6,864 votes to Barnes' total of 5,106. Stahl won 36 of 40 districts in East Brunswick, with district five (125-107 for Barnes, district 18 (60-59 for Barnes), district 37 (186-183 for Barnes) and district 40 (131-122 for Barnes) the only township districts to have a slight majority against the mayor.

Barnes left the General Assembly to pursue the senate seat, leaving Democrat Patrick Diegnan as the only incumbent running for two available seats.

Diegnan won re-election by capturing a total of 24,904 votes in the district. He will be joined by Democrat Nancy Pinkin, an East Brunswick Councilwoman, who collected 24,094 votes to best Republicans Robert Benegivenga, who collected 21,451 votes, and Lisa Goldhamer, who gained 20,513 votes.

All vote tallies are unofficial until certified by the Middlesex County Clerk's Office.

The 18th District is comprised of East Brunswick, Edison, Helmetta, Highland Park, Metuchen, South Plainfield and South River.