An entire township council has changed party affiliations in East Hanover, New Jersey.
According to a new report from the Daily Record, town leaders in East Hanover have switched their party affiliations from Democrat to Republican as the Democrat party continues to stray further and further left.
“Municipal leaders have a responsibility to best represent their constituents, and it is our belief this change of party is in the best interest of the community,” Pannullo said in a statement. He has served as mayor since 2007.
“As the nastiness, rhetoric, and social media vitriol of national politics continues to infiltrate local governance, we collectively determined this was the best course of action to keep the focus on local issues impacting our community.”
Pannullo seems to be correct that his community does need Republican leaders to support them considering former President Donald Trump had a strong win in East Hanover in 2020, securing 66% of the votes at the time.
Morris County Republican Committee Chair Laura Ali was very happy with the change.
“The entire Republican Party in Morris County is welcoming Mayor Pannullo and East Hanover’s four council members to our family with open arms and great excitement!” she said. “East Hanover is an exceptionally run town with great leadership. It is clear we share the same values as Mayor Panullo and his Council and we are so excited to have them be part of our Republican family.”
Not everyone was happy however with the move.
Morris County Democratic Chair Amalia Duarte argued that the move was not in the best interest of the community.
“But, the real story is that Morris County is rapidly trending more Democratic, as we saw in the last election cycle. We won new municipal seats, flipped Morris Township to entirely Democratic and all of our incumbents were reelected, including in East Hanover,” she said.