Republicans Ahead in Close Madison Council Race

Unofficial election results Tuesday night showed Republican candidates Robert Catalanello and Patrick Rowe ahead of their Democratic challengers in a close race for two seats on the Madison Borough Council.

According to preliminary tallies posted on the Morris County Election Results website and provided by the Madison borough clerk's office, 45 votes separated Rowe, the Board of Education vice president who ran with the incumbent councilman, and Democrat Maureen Byrne, a four-year member of the Downtown Development Commission, who ran with Jeffrey Gertler, an 11-year member of the Planning Board and six-year member of the Environmental Commission.

Former Councilman Sam Cerciello appeared on the ballot as an independent and drew more than 4 percent of the vote.

Unofficial results

DEM - Maureen M. Byrne 1,946 votes, 23.62%

DEM - Jeffrey J. Gertler 1,896 votes, 23.02%

REP - Patrick W. Rowe 1,991 votes, 24.17%

REP - Robert G. Catalanello 2,041 votes, 24.78%

IND - Sebastian "Sam" Cerciello 361 votes, 4.38%

Write-In 3 votes, 0.04%

Total 8,238

Reached by phone, Catalanello said Tuesday night they are waiting to have the results certified, and it was a very competitive race.

"Hopefully if the results hold up we'll get to come to Council next year," he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly attributed Catalanello's comments to Rowe.