Ross Licitra, Lillian Burry and Christine Giordano Hanlon
Monmouth County Republicans have recovered from the shock of seeing Democrats leading the ballot counts on Election Day and are getting ready to celebrate.
With 296,966 ballots reported at 5:05 on Friday afternoon, Republican County candidates are showing the dominant leads that the GOP has enjoyed in Monmouth for many years.
UPDATE 4:40 p.m. : Afternoon results show substantially widening Republican lead
Republican Freeholder candidates Lillian Burry and Ross Licitra gained over 10,000 votes each in the Thursday afternoon update from the Monmouth County Board of Elections.
Democrats Michael Penna and Moira Nelson gained only 7,000-8,000.
The County race is trending Republican.
Republicans Lillian Burry and Ross Licitra are leading the ballot count in the Monmouth County Freeholder race following an upload of about 11,000 ballots on Thursday morning.
New Jersey released thousands of people from prisons Wednesday to try to reduce the spread of the coronavirus in corrections facilities, but questions remained about the state’s ability to support the public health needs of this vulnerable population.
The race for the two Monmouth County freeholder seats narrowed on Wednesday evening when the Board of Elections reported approximately 22,000 ballots of the estimated 175,000 votes that remained to be counted.
With 212,780 ballots reported, Democrat Michael Penna and Republican Lillian Burry lead Democrat Moira Penna and Ross Licitra by less than 1% in the race to be the only people ever to be elected as Monmouth County Freeholders and sworn in as Commissioners. Legislation passed earlier this year changed the name of the office.
Monmouth County Clerk Christine Giordano Hanlon has won a decisive reelection victory.
Based upon the early returns Hanlon is leading Democrat Angela Ahbez-Anderson of Asbury Park by 54%-45%. Her margin of victory is very likely to expand to almost 60% when all the ballots are counted.
Congressman Chris Smith scored a decisive victory in the 4th Congressional District of New Jersey, defeating Democrat Stephanie Schmid in all three Counties in the district.
With an estimated 70% of the votes reported in the district, Smith leads Schmid 57%-42% on Wednesday morning, according to Decision Desk HQ.
Democrats appear to be winning in Monmouth County for the first time since 2008 after the first round of paper ballots were reported.
However, there are 150,000-200,000 ballots yet to be counted.
With 189, 594 votes reported on Tuesday night, Joe Biden is leading for President, Cory Booker is leading for U.S. Senate and Democrats Michael Penna and Moira Nelson are narrowly leading Republicans Lillian Burry and Ross Licitra for two Freeholder (soon to be known as County Commissioners) seats.
Muhammad Ikram, 41, an employee of Sam’s 2 convenience store on Palmer Ave in Hazlet, stands accused of soliciting underage girls for sexually explicit photos in exchange for vaping products, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced.
I didn’t make that prediction until the early morning of Election Day when I got a phone call reporting two hour long lines in the Republican areas of Ohio before the polls opened. Tommy wants me to make my 2020 prediction 14 hours earlier.
