Brauckmann, McCarthy Take Both Seats in Uncontested Race

In the uncontested township committee race, current Mayor Don Brauckmann retained his seat and newcomer John McCarthy will be a new face on the dais.

Current Committeeman John Rooney did not seek another term.

According to unofficial election results, Brauckmann nabbed 4,951 votes while McCarthy received 4,947.

The winners did not return calls for comment by presstime. 

Cinnaminson Township is a committee-based government, which means residents vote for five committee members and those members appoint a mayor each year.

McCarthy and Brauckmann ran unopposed in the election—an odd happening for a presidential year. Last year, Committeemen Ben Young and Anthony Minniti ran against three Independent candidates.

No Democrats ran last year either. In years before that, write-in campaigns during the primary yielded to names on the November ballot.

The day after the June primary this year, Democratic Chair Jim Bernard and Vice Chair Bill O’Connor stepped down. O’Connor told Cinnaminson Patch earlier this year the Democrats are “wholly underfunded” and just don’t want to “do the battles.”

Republican campaign manager Jim Bristow said his guys still ran a campaign even though they were uncontested. He encouraged Brauckmann and McCarthy to walk the town and knock on doors.

"The electorate has a right to know who is running," Bristow said. "We asked them to walk, gave them literature, knock on doors, leave a hanger that indicated who they were—more importantly, for [McCarthy]."

The campaign put about 500 Brauckmann/McCarthy signs up—but didn't spend campaign funding on larger signs or literature like they would have in a contested election. 

"It’s not just two candidates who have won automatically—you still have to take care of the voters."

Reorganization is tentatively scheduled for 6:30 p.m., Jan. 7.