Jersey City Fil-Am councilor Lavarro handily wins reelection bid

Incumbent Jersey City Council President Rolando Navarro Jr. topped the council election. JERSEY.GOV

JERSEY CITY, New York –In this city’s council-at-large race, Council President Rolando Lavarro Jr., a Filipino American, received the most number of votes among the three winning candidates, all of whom were reelectionists belonging to the team of incumbent Mayor Steven Fulop.

Fulop himself won the mayoral race with a historic win of over 75% of the votes cast in the Tuesday, November 7 elections.

Lavarro was part of Mayor Steven Fulop’s team. Fulop was also reelected. WIKIPEDIA

“I’m excited. I’m thrilled. I’m very happy,” Lavarro told The Jersey Journal. “I think it’s an affirmation of the work we’ve done over the past four years and the Jersey City electorate’s desire to … continue the progress.” Lavarro and teammates Joyce Watterman and Daniel Rivera won re-election by roughly three-to-one over their closest rivals.

Lavarro, 47, first joined the council in 2011. He crossed the vote threshold necessary for him, Rivera and Watterman to avoid a runoff. The three, all Fulop allies, faced five challengers, none of whom came within 11,000 votes of the victors.