Sussex County primary election sees one area candidate unseated, two others saved

Sussex County’s local primary elections this year saw few overall contenders. Most seats had one candidate running for one position (typically the incumbent) or two candidates running for two positions, a guaranteed win for most. But two local races had competition: the races for Stillwater Town Committee and Wantage Town Committee.

In Stillwater, three candidates were running for two seats in the Republican primary: incumbents Vera Rumsey and Timmy Lee Fisher, and Dawn Delaney, who had served on the town recreation committee. Fisher is also listed as the deputy mayor of the town.

The preliminary results, which do not include provisional or overseas ballots, show Delaney earning the most votes, with 411. Garnering the second most votes was Rumsey, with 347, which means that, unless an influx of votes comes in for Fisher, who got 212 votes, he will be off the Republican line of the ballot come November. In total, the town has tallied 983 votes, 13 of which were write-ins. A total of 859 people voted on election day, 20 during early voting, and 104 by mail.

In Wantage, two candidates were vying for one seat. Incumbent Ronald Bassani went up against Michael Ferrarella, who works with the Colesville Fire Department. At the current count, Bassani has a substantial lead over Ferrarella, with 815 votes to Ferrarella’s 223. Again, barring any surprise influx of votes, Bassani appears to be holding on to his position. The township counted a total of 1,046 votes: 887 on election day, 41 during early voting, and 118 mail-in ballots. There were also eight write-in votes.

The winning candidates will now appear on the ballot for the general election this November, under the Republican lines, pending certification from the boards of elections.

There were no Democrats running in either town primary.