Republican challengers fall short in district vote

EDISON — As Jordan Rickards waited for the results of the senatorial election for the third time in his political career, he said he was not nervous but content with his campaigning process.

“Can’t do anything now, just need to see how the voters vote,” said Rickards in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Edison. “We did everything we could.”

When the numbers flashed on the pull-down projector screen, Rickards only earned 35 percent of the counted votes while Democratic incumbent Bob Smith had 65 percent, winning the N.J. Senate chair for District 17.

But Rickards was not the only one to walk away disappointed. Republican Assembly candidates Carlo DiLalla and Robert Mettler also fell to Democratic Assembly incumbents Upendra Chivukula and Joseph Egan.

DiLalla gained 18 percent of votes — 8,363 votes, according to nj.com. Mettler also won 19 percent of the votes with 8,603 votes. But both fell to incumbents, with Egan having 32 percent of the votes and Chivukula close behind with 31 percent of the votes.

Rickards, who has been campaigning since March, had to overcome multiple obstacles when campaigning, including monetary advantages by the incumbent and redistricting.

“[My incumbent] began the race with half-a-million dollars, and I was starting with nothing,” he said.

Rickards said the majority of the district is Democrat and winning that would be a difficult feat in his campaign race.

Joseph Sinagra, R-18, an Assembly candidate who also fell short of his Assembly chair, said it does not matter if a candidate is associated with a certain party, they need to change the current state.

“A lot of people are upset with the economy. It doesn’t matter if you differentiate between Republican or Democratic. If something is wrong you need to change it,” he said.

Sinagra said some of the largest areas of focus are taxes, jobs and economy.

“Republicans have something to prove once they have that position,” he said.

DiLalla said being a Republican in Middlesex County plays a large role in how people voted.

“It doesn’t matter whether it’s a Democrat or Republican in charge as long as they get the job done. We did everything we could,” he said. “People think Republicans are the rich but it’s the opposite. When Republicans win, they win by a shoe string.”

DiLalla said a large part of his campaign success was due to volunteer success. And although they did not walk away with a win, they managed to close the voting gap between the victors and the losers since the last election.

DiLalla said if the campaign had more money, he would have liked to send campaign mailers out to households in the district.

“We ran ads in newspapers, we did robo-calls, but I would have liked to had mailers sent directly to homes three to four times [during the period],” he said. “Otherwise, we went to homes and did everything we could.”

DiLalla said although he lost, he plans to run again two years from now in the next Assembly election.

Mettler said being a Republican in Middlesex County, even in Somerset County, is hard because a large proportion is Democrat. He said neither party is wiser than the other because both parties have their flaws.

“Democrats led tremendously around Middlesex County,” he said. “I think Republicans can have the race in the future. It’s not the party but the candidate.”

Mettler said he hopes to run again in future years despite his first loss in the Assembly race.

“We all did what we could,” he said. “Everyone worked hard.”