Seven votes. That is the entire margin separating Ramsey's next mayor from its current one, and as of Thursday afternoon, nobody could say for certain which side of that line would win. Democrat Angelo LaManna Jr. led Republican incumbent Deirdre Dillon 3,275 to 3,268 in the Bergen County borough's mayoral race, with ballots still being counted days after polls closed.
The gap has been shrinking and growing in almost real time since Election Day. According to unofficial Bergen County results updated Nov. 5 at 2:51 p.m. and reported by northjersey.com, LaManna Jr., a retired borough police sergeant, held a seven-vote lead over Dillon. That margin had been just four votes earlier Thursday morning, when LaManna led 3,270 to 3,266, as nj.com reported. At the close of election night, the race had been even tighter still, with only two votes separating the two candidates, per the same report.
As of Thursday morning, 20 mail-in ballots and 39 provisional ballots still needed to be counted, and no winner had been declared, nj.com reported. New Jersey election tallies routinely shift in the days after polls close because mail-in ballots take time to arrive and process, a dynamic the outlet's broader election coverage has noted statewide. Official results in the Ramsey race are expected Dec. 3, according to a report from Daily Voice.
Who Is Running for Ramsey's Top Job
Dillon has served as Ramsey's mayor since 2015, following eight years on the Borough Council, according to northjersey.com. She was seeking a fourth term in this race, according to the same nj.com report that detailed the vote count. LaManna is making his first run for political office, according to ABC7 New York, which also reported that he previously worked as a Ramsey police officer.
Accounts differ on exactly how long LaManna served in uniform and in borough emergency management roles. Nj.com reported he spent 30 years with the Ramsey Police Department, retiring as a sergeant in 2013, and separately served 26 years as deputy coordinator for the Ramsey Office of Emergency Management. New Jersey Globe, however, described him as a 28-year veteran of the police department who has served as the borough's deputy emergency management coordinator for 24 years.
A Borough That Rarely Elects Democrats
A LaManna win would be a historic shift for Ramsey, which has not had a Democratic mayor in more than 20 years. The borough's last Democratic mayor, Richard Muti, served from 2003 to 2006, nj.com reported. The race also unfolds against a broader partisan trend in Bergen County: the county's presidential margin shifted from a 17-point win for Joe Biden in 2020 to just a 4-point win for Kamala Harris in 2024, and Republicans have not won a countywide office in the county since 2013, according to New Jersey Globe's analysis of the 2026 election landscape.
Local development emerged as an issue in the campaign, according to ABC7 New York. Ramsey, a borough of about 16,000 residents in Bergen County, also has down-ballot contests still unresolved. Republicans held all six seats on the Borough Council heading into the election, while Democrats were leading in the races for two council seats, per New Jersey Globe.
Candidates React to the Nail-Biter
LaManna told ABC7 New York he did not anticipate the race would be so close. He said his campaign had been optimistic about its chances but had not expected a margin as narrow as two votes, a gap that later widened to seven. LaManna added that he was anxious to learn the final total and whether he would move on to officially take office.
Dillon, who was out of town when she previously commented on the vote count, told ABC7 New York that her campaign was still waiting for the final votes before drawing any conclusions. Ramsey residents offered their own takes on the drawn-out count: Joanne Furman said she considered the race rough but felt officials had done well in the past, while Ed Paparo said the close results reflect political divisions between more liberal and more conservative residents in town, according to the station's reporting.
The latest count also included six write-in votes, including one for Bernard Sanders and another for simply “DILLON,” northjersey.com reported. Separately, the Bergen County Clerk's office notes that returns for individual districts with 14 or fewer votes cast and counted are concealed to protect voter privacy, though protected district tallies do not change the reported contest totals, according to the county's election page.
