WINNERS
Fernando Alonso
The attorney and Hispanic outreach director for Fairleigh Dickinson University defeated his rival by 13 votes to get the backing of the Bergen County Republican Organization (BCRO) in the LD 38 Republican Primary.
Sam Thompson
The Middlesex County GOP chairman pilfered East Brunswick Mayor Dave Stahl from the Democrats to run as a Republican for the LD 18 Senate seat.
Tom Kean
The Senate minority leader helped land Stahl for the GOP, watched his LD 3 candidate Nikki Trunk formally launch her campaign against Senate President Steve Sweeney (D-3), and officially has an establishment-backed candidate in LD 38.
Cory Booker
Fully half of those polled by Fairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind say they want to see the Newark mayor succeed retiring U.S. Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ).
Adrian Mapp
The New Democrats’ councilman this week formally received the support of the Union County Democratic Committee in his quest to succeed two-term incumbent Mayor Sharon Robinson-Briggs.
LOSERS
John Bencivengo
The former Hamilton mayor was sentenced Wednesday to more than three years behind bars for accepting $12,400 in bribes. U.S. District Judge Anne Thompson referred to the case as “a tragedy,” saying Bencivengo “has thrown away so much for $12,400.”
Joseph A. “Jojo” Giorgianni
An accused co-conspirator in Trenton Mayor Tony Mack’s corruption case, the owner of JoJo’s Steakhouse was also indicted this week on federal drug charges.
Geraldo Rivera
It was fun having him around for laughs, but the public doesn’t want the Fox News personality as its next U.S. senator. In FDU’s PublicMInd poll this week, Rivera earned 21% to Booker’s 52%.
Frank Pallone
The veteran congressman, a favorite of progressives who remember his nay vote on the Iraq War and work to maintain clean shores, garnered just 4 percent of the vote in a Democratic Primary, according to this week’s FDU Poll.
John Driscoll
The 2011 candidate for state Senate in the 38th District went down in defeat last night at the hands of his former running mate Alonso. Driscoll gave up running for re-election to the freeholder board last year, saying he wanted to instead focus on a 2013 state Senate rematch with state Sen. Robert Gordon (D-38). He won’t have that chance.
Sharon Robinson-Briggs
The veteran mayor of Plainfield won’t have the support of the Union County Democratic Committee in her bid for a third term.
