The Unofficial (Official) Numbers From Tuesday Night's Democratic Reorg

As everyone knows by now, this past Tuesday night the Monmouth County Democrats held their reorganization meeting at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highland and Vin Gopal was elected to serve as the party's Chairman for the next two year.

It was a hard fought contest between Gopal and Frank LaRocca in which each party spent their money like drunken sailors on shore leave (rumored to be well over $35K each) to succeed the retiring Chairman, Victor Scudiery.

The one question that people keep asking me however is whether or not all that money was well spent or could it have been put to better use helping to fund this year's County races? Unfortunately that's a question that can't be answered right now but what can be answered now is, how did county committee people vote? I know because I have the unofficial /official breakdown of Tuesday night's vote count.

I received the vote count Tuesday night right after the results were announced  but didn't outright publish them because I thought what was the point? It really didn't matter, Vin Gopal received 73% of the 599 votes cast, there was no need.

But seeing how people are curious and there has been all kinds of inaccurate numbers being thrown out there by supports of each Gopal and LaRocca, exaggerating both the margins of victory and defeat, I thought that I should set the record straight so that supporters of each camp can come together and unite towards the common goal of winning in November.

So here are the numbers:


Gopal 439
Foster 419
Pulido 429
Tarantolo 423
Brown 428
Caliendo 428

LaRocca 160
Aaronson 175
Mangan 161
Tarantolo 159
Lee 159
Solomeno 161

Now, let's get back to business, it's time to unite as a party and unruffle the feathers. It's time to support the Democratic County Candidate slate of Shea, Lavan and Steinhorn as their campaigns gear up and we need to get behind and support Vin Gopal and the rest of his leadership team to ensure victory over their Republican rivals.

Democrats Choose Gopal As Monmouth County Chairman

Democrats meet last night at the Shore Casino in Atlantic Highlands to pick a successor to longtime Monmouth County Chairman Victor Scudiery.


I walked through the doors just after 6pm and was surprised by how many people were in the building, to say that it was a packed house would be an understatement, there were easily 700 people or more in the room by the time the polls were opened at 7:30pm.

Crowd shuffling in at Shore Casino

registration line

waiting for speeches and to vote

The atmosphere in the room was electrified by those in attendance and the enthusiasm was contagious, County Committee members were pumped up and ready to choose Chairman Scudiery’s  successor.  When the voting came to an end at 9pm the tension in the room could be cut with a knife, Gopal supporters and LaRocca supporters were anxiously mulling around waiting for the votes to be tabulated.

votes being tabulated

The two men themselves were nervous but remained courteous and was seen speaking to each other moments before being taken to a back hallway to be informed of the outcome of the voting

Gopal and LaRocca before results were announced

In the end it was Vin Gopal who came out of the voting victorious, garnering over 430 votes which represented 73% of the vote against his opponent Frank LaRocca.

Vin Gopal and Frank LaRocca as results were announced to the crowd

In his concession speech Frank LaRocca was gracious and thanked all those that supported him and he vowed to work with and support Gopal in order to get Democrats elected all throughout the County.

LaRocca's concession speech

Vin Gopal thanked everyone who came out to vote and stated that he looked forward to working with Frank LaRocca and all those in the room and stated that he would work tirelessly as the Party’s Chairman.

Chairman Vin Gopal

And just in case there was any doubt about who I supported  here’s a picture of my vote (sorry Frank).