With Primaries Over, Candidates Look Ahead to General Election

There were no surprises in the first leg of the 2010 election season in Bernards, with all front-running candidates coasting to victory.

The battle for local, county and national seats has officially begun, starting with the race closest to home, and currently furthest from being competitive.

Township Committee Race

Mayor Scott Spitzer received 1,300 votes in his uncontested primary race for another three-year term on the Bernards Township Committee. Spitzer's vote total was second only to Somerset County Sheriff Frank Provenzano (1,306) for most of any candidate on the ballot.

Despite running unopposed in the primary, and potentially in the general election as well (no residents have filed for candidacy to run against Spitzer), the mayor said he still plans to get out on the campaign trail.

When Spitzer ran unopposed for his first Township Committee term in 2007, he managed to get out to 2,330 homes. Somerset County Freeholder, and recent primary winner, Patricia Walsh talked about campaigning with Spitzer at the Republican County Committee's nomination meeting in March. "Three years ago we were out quite a bit in the rain, and when finally I couldn't see him, I said I think I'm going to stop," Walsh said. "He said, well I think I'm going to keep going."

Spitzer told Patch after the primary, "I went door to door to more than 500 homes in town during the past two months to listen to our voters and will continue to campaign hard throughout the fall."

U.S. House of Representatives Race

In the national race, current Republican Congressman from New Jersey's 11th district Rodney Frelinghuysen showed early signs of carrying Bernards for the ninth straight election, garnering 1,126 primary votes to leading Democratic candidate Douglas Herbert's 228.

Frelinghuysen, first elected in 1994, beat Tea Party candidate Richard Luzzi in the primary, and secured 76.5 percent of the votes in Bernards.

"I am extremely proud of our victory in the June 8 primary election. It's a triumph that belongs entirely to my supporters, to whom I am ever grateful," Frelinghuysen said in a statement released by his campaign. "It's hard to imagine a tougher electoral environment for an incumbent, but what our victory proves is that people want to see a return to limited government, low taxes and personal responsibility, all of which are cornerstones of my campaign and my service to the people of the 11th Congressional District."

Democratic challenger Douglas Herbert, who won 82.6 percent of the primary votes in Bernards, will move on to face Frelinghuysen in the Republican-leaning district.

"I am honored and humbled to be your Democratic nominee for Congress," Herbert said in a statement after the primary. "Tonight's results illustrate clearly that Democrats in the 11th District are united and ready to fight for a responsible and honest leader. The time has come for a new Congressman."

Both candidates recently spoke at Fellowship Village in Basking Ridge on a number of issues that they see as important in the coming years. For more, see "Congressional Candidates Speak Out in Bernards."

County Races

The all-Republican incumbent county officials got off to a good start in Bernards, outpacing their Democratic challengers in total primary votes by a large margin.

Walsh won 83.4 percent of the votes cast for freeholder, Provenzano won 83.6 percent of the votes for county sheriff, and Frank Bruno won 83.4 percent of the surrogate votes.

The Republicans will face Joseph DeMarco, Richard Arline and Benjamin Laves respectively in the general election in November.

For full election results, click here.

Voter Turnout

Just under 10 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in this year's primary, the third lowest mark since 2000.

The highest percentage of registered voters (25.8 percent) to head to the polls for a primary in the last decade was in 2005, a year with a governor's race. Primary voting in general has declined since the early 2000s, topping 15 percent just once, and averaging 11 percent of registered voters since 2005 – the average from 2000-05 was 21.4 percent.

There were several reports from around the state that primary voting was light in New Jersey this year, as well as a Fairleigh Dickinson University survey that showed just 14 percent of New Jersey voters correctly answered that the next voting opportunity was in June.