BAYONNE -- Mayor Jimmy Davis has won a clean sweep, first-ballot victory, defeating former state Assemblyman Jason O'Donnell and local doctor/lawyer Mitchell Brown.

Davis, 54, garnered 6,850 votes, or 57 percent of the total votes cast, according to the preliminary results from the county board of elections, besting O'Donnell by more than 2,000 votes.

Much of his City Council, meanwhile, won by large margins. Tommy Cotter, the first ward councilman, garnered nearly 65 percent of the vote, while Third Ward Councilman Gary La Pelusa Sr. won just under 60 percent.

The voter turnout was low, with just 32 percent (11,948 in the mayoral race) of registered voters (37,212) casting ballots on a beautiful spring day.

In the election's closest race, Second Ward Councilman Sal Gullace defeated Kevin Kuhl by 73 votes (not including mail-in ballots). Council President Sharon Ashe-Nadrowski and Juan Perez were both re-elected as at-large candidates, garnering 31 and 28 percent of the vote, respectively.

Hundreds of Davis supporters converged on Villa Maria on Broadway for a raucous Election Night party. Davis arrived to a jubilant celebration around 8:45 p.m.

"This is probably one of the best feelings I've ever had," Davis said amid rousing cheers that echoed throughout Villa Maria on Broadway. "To everybody in this room, and in the city of Bayonne, thank you."

"This has been the longest eight months of my life. My family has been through a lot... (the election) got very ugly and got very personal," he said.



He thanked his wife, three kids and extended family for "being behind me from the start."



"It's been a long road," he added.

The contentious election season served as a referendum of Davis' redevelopment policy: using tax abatements to incentivize residential development, bring working class residents into the city and increase the median income to restore the city's local economy.

The mayor's team had spent the past several weeks -- and much of the last two years -- touting the new revenue the city is receiving from developments already on line, and, as a result, the shrinking structural deficit that has plagued the city for almost two decades.

O'Donnell, the mayor's primary challenger in the race, campaigned against this strategy, saying the mayor's "poor record" of handing out "tax giveaways to wealthy developers" would hurt taxpayers in the future.

"I'm proud of the campaign we ran," O'Donnell said when reached by phone, adding that he would not have done anything different.

"This is democracy. You put out your ideas on how you think you can do better and at the end of the day, the voters make a decision."

Brown, whose campaign platform centered on fiscal responsibility and righting the city's finances, watched the election numbers roll in with his family at home. He picked up 525 votes, according to the preliminary tally.

"I think I should have done better. I think the town is fiscally not headed in a good direction but I guess my platform didn't resonate with the voters or I didn't have enough time to campaign," Brown said when reached by phone. "I wish Mayor Davis the best of luck. I hope he can turn the town around."

When asked if his mayoral campaign is just the first step in a career in politics or merely a one-time foray, Brown responded: "I can't say just yet. I'd have to see what the climate is over the next few years and see how well the mayor does, if he delivers on his promises."

Davis' new four-year term will begin in July.

"This city wants to move forward," Davis said. "(Residents) have seen what we've done for the last four years, they like what's going on, and together we're all going to move the city forward."

The Jersey Journal's Terrence T. McDonald and Patrick Villanova contributed to this report.

Corey W. McDonald may be reached at cmcdonald@jjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @coreymacc. Find The Jersey Journal on Facebook.