Hoven Wins By Landslide in Murky Chester Mayoral Election

Janet Hoven was running against a Democratic candidate for mayor of Chester in Tuesday’s Election.

Well, not really. Or, sort of.

Either way, she won by more than a 2-1 margin.

Tallying 342 votes, Hoven beat current Mayor Robert Davis (113 votes), a Republican whose name was listed as a Democrat in the election.

Hoven ran unopposed in the Republican primary in June after Davis decided not to run for re-election. But the one-term mayor received a single write-in vote from a borough Democrat and accepted the nomination by changing his political party shortly after that vote.

Davis remained a Democrat until ballots were drawn by the Morris County Clerk’s office, and switched back to Republican on Oct. 2. After Patch ran an exclusive article on the situation, in which Davis admitted he was intentionally running for another term as mayor, he composed a Letter to the Editor for Mendham-Chester Patch promising to withdraw from the election.

Despite the claim, however, Davis never formally did so, making Tuesday’s election a legitimate contest.

Had Davis won, he would have either had to change his party affiliation yet again to accept the nomination, or had he not done that, the Democratic Committee of Chester Borough would own the seat and could appoint whomever it wanted.

Hoven will begin her first term as mayor on Jan. 1, 2015.

Chester councilmen Tim Iversen (343 votes) and Gary Marshuetz (344 votes) were also re-elected to their seats on the governing body. They ran unopposed after being challenged by Melinda Scotti and Laura Schurter in the June Primary Election.