Republicans Keep Longstanding Hold on Borough Council with 51% of Vote

They tried, but they didn't do it. The final hour write-in candidates for Rumson Borough Council did not succeed in breaking a longstanding Republican Party hold. Neither did the familiar Democratic challengers.

The write-in candidates, otherwise registered Republicans Tim McCooey and Tom Ridgway, ran under a Rumson Family banner, ending up garnering roughly 32 percent of the vote. Democrats had about 8 percent and Republicans Joseph Hemphill (incumbent) and Laura Atwell winning with roughly 51 percent of the vote.

Hemphill was the top vote-getter with 1,176 cast for him. Atwell garnered the next highest vote count, with 1,143. Democrats Michael Steinhorn and Philip Wagner won 363 and 338 votes, respectively. And the write-ins, together, earned 1,445.

"The write-in candidates deserve credit for waging a competitive campaign in such a short period of time," Mayor John Ekdahl said. "On the flip side, they used an unfortunate situation in Rumson as the basis for the entire effort."

What the mayor was referring to was that the write-in campaign was seen as an outgrowth of a contingent of residents' expressed displeasure with the location of an Oxford House substance abuse rehab home in the West Park section of the borough.

Write-in candidates Tim McCooey and Tom Ridgway were not available for comment as of press time, but had said in their profiles that their campaign was focused on issues rather than party affiliation. They did not mention the Oxford House in their profile questionnaires, but did mention zoning and planning.

"I am running as a write-in candidate supported by Rumson Family, a newly formed grass-roots organization that focuses on making our community a better place for families," Ridgway said in the profile. "In a nutshell, the current governing body is out of touch with the 2013 Rumson family. We need to overhaul our current ordinances. The various boards appointed by our council — planning, zoning, recreation, etc., need to be more resident and family-friendly."

McCooey's profile was similar, expressing like concerns. "The current governing body and the boards it appoints have lost their family focus, and I intend to bring it back," he said in the profile.

Republicans maintained that their record spoke for itself as one that has successfully built and kept Rumson a place that is family-focused and one of the most desired towns in which to live.