EDISON — It was 15 minutes after 9 p.m. election night and Edison Mayor Thomas Lankey yelled “We won” to a crowd of supporters at the Democratic headquarters in the Wick Plaza on Route 1.
And with that, supporters yelled and applauded.
Lankey garnered 12,032 votes over Republican challenger Keith Hahn, who received 8,574 votes, to win his second four-year term as mayor of the fifth largest township in the state.
Democratic Incumbents Robert Diehl, Alvaro Gomez and newcomer Samip “Sam” Joshi garnered enough votes to win the three, four-year term seats on the Township Council against three Republican challengers, former councilman Wayne J. Mascola and newcomers Maria Orchid and Larry D. Deutchman.
Diehl received 12,382 votes, Joshi came in with 11,827 votes and Gomez received 11,717 votes.
Mascola garnered 7,042 votes and newcomers Orchid and Deutchman received 6,919 votes and 6,505 votes respectively.
In the Edison Board of Education race, incumbents Beth Moroney and Jingwei “Jerry” Shi and newcomer Falguni Patel garnered enough votes for the three, three-year term seats that were available on the board. Nine candidates vied for the available seats.
The school board race took an ugly turn last week when an offensive postcard was anonymously distributed by mail with photos of Shi and Patel, which had the word “Deport” under each of the candidate’s photos.
Shi garnered the most votes with 6,259, Patel followed with 6,115 votes and Moroney received 5,991 votes.
Newcomers Elizabeth Conway received 5,069 votes, Carol Bodofsky received 5,005 votes, Maria Wise, 3,625 votes, Aqib Virani, 1,707 votes, Sunil Vuppula, 1,591 votes, and Ruchika Juneja received 1,351 votes.
Two candidates vied for the one year unexpired term available on the board.
Paul Distefano, who was appointed by the school board in April to fill the seat vacated by longtime member Deborah A. Anes after her passing in March, will remain in the seat after garnering 7,074 votes over his challenger William Araujo, who received 4,026 votes.
