West Orange has a new mayor-elect. Joyce Rudin won the township’s 2026 mayoral race in a landslide, while Jackie Hendy and Justin Goldsman captured the two open at-large seats on the Township Council, according to unofficial results from Tuesday’s election. Incumbent Mayor Susan McCartney, seeking another term, finished third.
Rudin pulled in 5,854 votes, well ahead of runner-up Tammy Williams, who received 3,946, according to New Jersey Globe. McCartney, the sitting mayor, placed third with 2,604 votes, a steep fall for an incumbent who won her first term in 2022 by defeating Cindy Malute-Brown in a four-candidate race, per the same outlet. The mayoral contest this year was far more crowded, with seven candidates vying for the seat.
Those seven contenders included Joe Krakoviak, Tammy Williams, Susan McCartney, Susan Scarpa, Joyce Rudin, Phillip Orphanidis and Brian Rock, according to Patch. Rudin had campaigned on the slogan “Honesty, Integrity, Accountability,” a message Patch reported back in September when the field first took shape.
Council Race Brings Two New Faces to Town Hall
The Township Council race was just as packed, with five candidates competing for two open at-large seats: Matthew Dvorin, Jackie Hendy, Justin Goldsman, Kenneth Gibbons and Micaela Bennett, per Patch’s reporting. Hendy and Goldsman came out on top, with Hendy collecting 7,101 votes and Goldsman finishing with 6,800, according to New Jersey Globe. Both will begin four-year terms on the council, the outlet reported.
Patch’s election-night coverage, drawing on figures attributed to the Essex County Clerk’s Office, showed Rudin with a wide lead and Hendy and Goldsman out front in the council race once all districts had reported — though the site cautioned those results were uncertified and that mail-in and provisional ballots might still need to be counted. NJ.com separately noted that ballots postmarked by Election Day can be accepted through Nov. 9, meaning the tallies could keep shifting in the days ahead.
What Comes Next for West Orange
TAPinto West Orange, in its own initial report on the results, described a campaign season dominated by affordability, municipal spending, development, infrastructure and government transparency. The outlet said the incoming mayor and council will now face questions on property taxes, managing development and rebuilding public confidence in township government — and that it plans to provide updated vote totals and candidate reaction as the count continues.
For now, the results reported by New Jersey Globe and Patch remain unofficial, awaiting certification by Essex County. West Orange voters will be watching to see whether the final margins hold once every mail-in and provisional ballot is counted.
