It was an “O” victory nationwide on Tuesday, Nov. 4, when the country turned out to vote in one of the most anticipated elections in American history.
While it was a tight race statewide, Obama ultimately received New Jersey’s 15 electoral votes. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., did not go away empty handed, however.
In fact, McCain won overwhelmingly in the Bayshore area of Monmouth County, earning nearly 40,000 votes to Obama’s 33,401, according to the Monmouth County Board of Elections’ unofficial results.
Although several towns went blue, McCain overcame Obama in five of the nine Bayshore towns.
In Monmouth’s largest municipality, Middletown Township, McCain received 20,774 ballots, including absentee votes, where Obama took in 14,967 tallies, according to unofficial results.
Obama trailed McCain by more than 5,000 votes, unofficially, which was nearly the difference of his loss on the Bayshore level: 5,947 votes, according to unofficial results.
Middletown generally votes along the Republican Party line, and elected the GOP candidates for municipal office, as well.
McCain was also the clear front-runner in Hazlet, which has a reputation of political flip-flopping. Unofficial county results said the GOP hopeful took the town by about 1,200 votes — a slant that differed vastly from Hazlet’s Democratic leanings of the past three years. Hazlet voters jumped to “Column B” for the remainder of the ballot to support Democratic candidates in the county and municipal races.
The Bayshore’s second largest populated town, Hazlet has a citizenry of more than 20,000 residents with 14,000 registered voters. The win in Hazlet for the GOP, coupled with its landslide in Middletown, secured the Bayshore for McCain.
The borough of Union Beach was decided at the polls, selecting Republican candidates down “Column A,” for the most part.
According to unofficial results, McCain took Union Beach from Obama by 252 ballots; the candidates received 1,474 and 1,222 votes, respectively.
Like Middletown, the borough saw GOP victories locally.
In the borough of Keansburg, residents selected McCain by only 34 votes, according to the Board of Elections. Furthermore, McCain received 1,768 tallies to Obama’s 1,734 ballots, including absentee votes.
Notably, Monmouth’s more than 3,800 provisional ballots, currently under the county’s supervision, had not been counted and certified as of press time.
Keansburg drifted from the GOP trend down the rest of its ticket, selecting Democratic senatorial, congressional and freeholder candidates.
A GOP-oriented town for the better part of two decades, Atlantic Highlands supported McCain in three of its four districts. McCain garnered 1,279 ballots of the 2,556 cast for the presidential race and took the town by just 51 votes, according to unofficial county results.
Another tight competition for the presidential hopefuls was in Matawan, which had clear party distinctions per district. Interestingly, the municipal election went to the GOP candidates, who won four of the seven districts, but Obama took the town by almost 100 ballots, according to unofficial results.
Although the Republicans took more of the districts, Obama put a larger gap between himself and McCain in the Democratic districts, which helped him edge the win in Matawan.
With more of a prominent victory in neighboring Aberdeen, Obama earned 4,599 of the 8,510 votes cast, besting McCain by about 803 tallies, according to unofficial county results. No municipal elections took place in Aberdeen during this cycle, but the town has a reputation for supporting Democrats.
Vastly different from its neighbor, Highlands voters ran down all of “Column B” for the first time in almost a decade.
Earning 52 percent of the vote in the town of 5,000 people— only 3,456 of which are registered voters — Obama took the borough by more than 145 votes, unofficial results said.
The substantial Democratic turnout in Highlands aided Obama in winning all four municipal districts, including the 3rd District, which was a battleground area for contenders this round.
Aside from Aberdeen and Highlands, the borough of Keyport could be said to most reflect the statewide trends during this election.
Borough residents selected Obama over McCain, the candidates receiving 1,738 and 1,496 votes, respectively, according to unofficial results.
Additionally, the borough picked Democrats for tenure as state senator and congressman. On the local level, residents elected two Democrats to fill the open seats on the borough’s governing body, as well.
Even though the Arizona senator did not win nationally, it could be said the Bayshore as a whole wouldn’t mind McCain as its president — although some municipalities might.
