Adamo To Be Next Passaic County Sheriff, Unofficial Results Show

PASSAIC COUNTY, NJ — Thomas Adamo has declared victory in the race for Passaic County Sheriff and three commissioners have held onto their seats against their Republican challengers, unofficial election results show.

Voters in Passaic County turned out Tuesday night in a major election year, making decisions in local and county races as well as major races for Congress and the White House.

Two Wayne residents were in the race for sheriff to replace the late Richard Berdnik: Current sheriff’s office chief Adamo, a Democrat, faced Republican Marla Saracino, a captain with the Passaic County Prosecutor’s Office.

Adamo leads by 14,000 votes as of the latest tally.

"I couldn't be more thrilled and grateful for the trust you’ve placed in me to serve as your next Sheriff," he said in a social media post on Tuesday night. "Thank you to everyone who believed in my vision and supported my campaign. Together we will now move Passaic County forward!"

Also, current County Commissioner Director John Bartlett (also of Wayne) and Commissioner Sandi Lazzara, both Democrats, have retained their seats on the board. Newcomer Rodney A. DeVore, an educator, joined them on the Democratic ticket and also won election.

Three Republican candidates, endorsed by the Passaic County Regular Republican Organization, challenged for those positions on the seven-member board; one came within 2,000 votes of unseating Bartlett.

There were contested primaries for both parties in the spring.

Here are the latest tallies from the Passaic County Clerk's Office.

100 percent of machine votes reported; mail-in ballots and provisional ballots still being counted.

Passaic County Sheriff

• Thomas Adamo (Democrat): 94,157
• Marla R. Saracino (Republican): 80,135
• Write-in: 241

Passaic County Board of County Commissioners (voters could chose 3)

• Cassandra Lazzara (Democrat-Inc.): 86,832
• Rodney De Vore (Democrat): 85,592
• John Bartlett (Democrat-Inc.): 85,732
• Nicolino Gallo (Republican-Inc.): 83,885
• Assad Mujtaba (Republican): 81,917
• William Cytowitcz (Republican): 81,482
• Write-in: 585

All results are unofficial until the county clerk verifies them.

Passaic County reported a turnout of 56.92 percent. According to the most recent unofficial results, 59,106 people voted early in-person, 192,365 voted by mail, and 23,483 cast their votes in-person on Tuesday.

Tuesday was a busy Election Day, and more than 4 million New Jersey residents cast their vote for President; final tallies were still being calculated early Wednesday afternoon.

Current Vice President Kamala Harris is expected to concede to Donald Trump, who has won a second non-consecutive term in the White House, at 4 p.m. on Wednesday.

Harris won New Jersey by 177,150 votes and 4 percentage points according to the most recent results — a much smaller margin against Trump than in 2020, when Biden won the state by 16 percentage points; or in 2016, when Hillary Clinton won by 14 percentage points.

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• Latest NJ Vote Totals As Trump Wins Another Term