Fontoura Wins Re-Election for Sheriff

Preliminary results from the Essex County Clerk's Office report the incumbent leading Republican challenger Orlando Mendez.

Armando Fontoura has won an eighth term as Essex County Sheriff.  Preliminary results show the incumbent ahead of Republican challenger Orlando Mendez. With 91 percent of the vote counted as of 11 p.m., Fontoura, of Fairfield, was winning handily with 167,164 votes, while Mendez trailed with 40,762 votes according to Essex County Clerk Christopher J. Durkin's website.   Fontoura, 69, has served as the Essex County Sheriff since 1990, but he has been involved in the county’s police force long before that.  Fontoura began as Newark police officer in 1967, and eventually rose through the ranks to become a captain and then chief assistant to the police director. In 1986, he became an Essex County Undersheriff, where he served until he was …

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