By Donald Gilpin

Voters elected Beth Behrend with 3,199 votes, Jess Deutsch with 2,983 votes, and Michele Tuck-Ponder with 2,773 votes on Tuesday to fill available seats for three-year terms on the Princeton Board of Education, according to unofficial results at press time.

Joining the Princeton Municipal Council in January for three-year terms will be Democrats David Cohen and Leticia Fraga, winning 5,604 and 5,570 votes respectively in their unopposed campaigns. Current Council members Bernie Miller and Jo Butler will be stepping down on January 1.

Also-rans in the School Board race included Jenny Ludmer with 2,118 votes, Julie Ramirez with 2,051 votes and James Fields with 1,192 votes.

In the race to succeed Chris Christie as New Jersey governor, Democrat Phil Murphy handily defeated Republican Kim Guadagno 48,144 to 26,014, with 93 percent of the districts having reported at press time. Five other candidates on the ballot each received less than one percent of the vote. In Princeton, Murphy’s margin of victory was 5,599 to 1,277 over Guadagno.

In the 16th legislative district Republican State Senate incumbent Christopher “Kip” Bateman with 31,862 votes held off a challenge from Democrat Laurie Poppe, who received 30,471 votes.

In the hotly-contested race for two State Assembly positions, Democratic incumbent Andrew Zwicker successfully defended his seat with 32,989 votes, while Democrat Roy Freiman won the second Assembly position with 31,519 votes.  Republicans Donna Simon and Mark Caliguire fell short, with 29,356 and 28,733 respectively.  Zwicker and Freiman won handily in Princeton voting with 5,684 and 5,480 respectively, to 1259 votes for Simon and 1238 votes for Caliguire.

Winners in the race for Mercer County Board of Chosen Freeholders were Democratic incumbents John A. Cimino with 53,137 votes and Lucylle R.S. Walter with 52,167 votes, while also-rans included Republicans Jeff Hewitson and Michelle Noone.

John “Jack” Kemler, a Democrat, was voted in for another term as Mercer County Sheriff, defeating Republican Charles “Chuck” Farina by a margin of 54,756 votes to 23,776 votes.

New Jersey voters approved both Public Questions on the ballot, one a state bond issue to provide grants to public libraries and the second allocating state revenue from legal settlements on environmental contamination to restore and protect natural resources in the state. Princeton voters voted overwhelmingly in favor of both.