Politics & Government
Incumbent Mayor James Barberio Wins Parsippany Primary
Unofficial election results favor Republican council candidates Michael Strumolo and Vincent Ferrara.
Parsippany-Troy Hills incumbent Mayor James Barberio swept the Republican primary Tuesday, beating current councilman Paul Carifi, Jr. by 545 votes.
According to unofficial results from the Morris County Clerk's Office, Barberio garnered 2,360 votes, or 56.42 percent of the total votes, over Carifi's 1,815 votes, or 43.39 percent of the vote. The results are considered unofficial until the Clerk's office is able to tally the remaining provisional and absentee ballots.
“I am still waiting to hear the final number with the provisional and absentee ballots,” Carifi said Tuesday night.
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Barberio was able to get ahead in the polls despite allegations that he offered town council candidate Dr. Louis Valori's a job in January in exchange for not running for office. The Somerset County Prosecutor's Office, which was investigating the allegations, later announced they would not file criminal charges.
Barberio also received a big endorsement from Governor Chris Christie for his political campaign just weeks before the June 4 primary.
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“I'm looking forward to running in the fall,” said Barberio. “For now I'm going to digest the win, take some time off and get ready for next election. I want to thank all my supporters for having confidence in me.”
“I led them these last four years and did everything I said I would do,” he added. “This year we had a zero percent tax increase and I expect to continue to do the same.”
Barberio will move forward to face Democrat Jonathan Nelson in the November mayoral election. Nelson, who was running unopposed in the Democratic primary, received 751 votes.
The winners among the Republican council candidates remain unclear as the absentee and provisional ballots have yet to be counted. As of Tuesday night, the numbers favored Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education member Michael Strumolo and incumbent Councilman Vincent Ferrara with 1,639 and 1,603 votes respectively. Candidates Robert Peluso and Louis Valori each received 1,545 (20.45%) and 1,261 (16.69%) at the polls, not counting the absentee or provisional ballots.
The county clerk’s office said that absentee ballots would be counted on Wednesday, The Daily Record reported.
Whichever pair wins will go on to face Democratic council candidates Robert Keller and Mihir Oza in the November election. Keller and Oza received 702 and 683 votes respectively.
The following are unofficial results from the Morris County Municipal Clerk's Office. The current numbers do not reflect absentee of provisional ballots.
Republican Primary Election Results
Parsippany Township Council Results
Candidate Vote Count Vote Percentage Michael L. Strumolo 1,63921.69%% Robert J. Peluso
1,545
20.45% Louis A. Valori
1,261
16.69% Vincent Ferrara
1,603
21.22% Milin Shah
1,500
19.85% Write-In 7 0.09%
Parsippany Mayor Results
Democratic Primary Election Results
Parsippany Township Council Results
Candidate Vote Count Vote Percentage Robert "Bob" Keller702
50.54% Mihir Oza
683
49.17% Write-In 4 0.29%
Parsippany Mayor Results
Candidate Voute Count Vote Percentage Jonathan Nelson 751 99.34% Write-in 5 0.66%Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
