Pronti, GOP sweep in N.A.; Eckel cruises in Kearny

Dan Pronti, N.A. mayor-elect

Councilman Dan Pronti is North Arlington’s Mayor-Elect.

The sitting Republican councilman beat sitting Democrat Councilman Mark Yampaglia, 2,646 votes to 2,015 unofficially.

Independents Lillian Saldanha and Al Granell finished a distant third and fourth, with 313 votes and 127 votes respectively.

Pronti became the GOP’s nominee just a few weeks ago, following the untimely death of Republican Mayor Joseph Bianchi.

Meanwhile in Kearny, Third Ward Councilwoman Eileen Eckel fended off an 11th hour write-in challenge from Larry Handlin, 1,525 votes to 79. There were 15 additional write-in votes for others in the ward.

It also appears, with 90% of the votes in, that Nutley’s public question(s) will fail. We’ll bring the final tally on the questions once all votes have been counted.

Learn more about the writer ...

Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, a place where he has served on and off since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on Facebook Live, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to West Hudson to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.