Kyrillos, Handlin and O'Scanlon Win GOP Primary

Assemblywoman Amy Handlin and Assemblyman Declan O'Scanlon recaptured their legislative seats Tuesday night, despite challenges from Leigh Ann Bellew, Edna Walsh and Stephen Boracchia, who ran under the banner of “Republicans for Conservative Leadership.”

With 100 percent of the voting districts in the 13th District reporting at 9:47 p.m. Tuesday night, Kyrillos had won 5,849 (78.76 percent) of the vote, compared to 1,576 votes (21.19 percent) for Bellew.

In the 13th Legislative District General Assembly race, Assemblywoman Amy Handlin won 5,716 votes (39.13 percent) and Declan O'Scanlon 5,691 votes (38.96 percent), as compared to votes cast for Walsh's 1,643 votes (11.25 percent)  and Boracchia's 1,556 votes (10.65 percent.) 

As Republicans celebrated at the Lincroft Inn, State Sen. Kyrillos commented about the mysterious 4 a.m. robocall that woke up Monmouth County Republicans at 4 a.m. Tuesday morning, urging Republicans to vote with just four hours left -- as if it were programmed for 4 p.m. It was not approved by the Monmouth County Republican Party, said Monmouth County Republican Chairman John Bennett. "I believe someone violated the law and should be prosecuted," he said. 

Bennett has requested an investigation by the Monmouth County Prosecutor's Office, he said. 

Kyrillos said, "We will learn more about that robocall in the weeks ahead, I suspect." 

Assemblyman O'Scanlon said: "This is a victory tonight for honest people who care about these issues," and also said, "This is a resounding defeat of a dishonest campaign."

Challenger Stephen Boracchia, reached Tuesday night on a business trip in Houston, heard about the outcome and said, "What we really wanted to do was get some people in there who were serious about lowering taxes. One thing that is certain is that it is hard to beat an incumbent."

Bellew and Walsh did not respond to requests for comment via email and phone. 

The 13th Legislative Democrats ran unopposed in the primary. The party's State Senate nominee, Joe Marques of Hazlet, won 1,995 votes (99.65 percent) of the vote. 

For General Assembly, Allison Friedman won 2,040 (50.67 percent) and 

Matthew Morehead with 1,979 votes (49.16 percent.)

According to the Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, 27,844 voters, or 6.57% of 424,029 voters in the county cast a vote in the Monmouth County primary. The contest drew registered Republicans over Democrats by a 2:1 margin.

District 13 includes Aberdeen, Atlantic Highlands, Fair Haven, Hazlet, Highlands, Holmdel, Keansburg, Keyport, Little Silver, Marlboro, Middletown, Monmouth Beach, Oceanport, Rumson, Sea Bright and Union Beach.