Schooley re-elected in Newark's 23rd

Democrat Terry Schooley was re-elected Tuesday for a fourth term as state representative for the 23rd District, located in the northern part of Newark. Schooley and her supporters gathered around the television and computer at her home as the results poured in, showing Schooley defeating Republican Bill Stritzinger, 68.3 percent to 31.7 percent.

Because the support of local voters was crucial, Schooley said, she went door-to-door visiting prospective voters, putting a face to her message.

"Signs do not vote," Schooley said.

For the 23rd District election, the main objectives of Schooley's and Stritzinger's platforms focused on the education systems and creating jobs, respectively.

Schooley, an advocate of social spending, supports an involved government that backs investment and entrepreneurial activity within the community. The budget from 2010 to 2011 has been crucial for establishing health care for senior citizens and low income individuals, as well as education reform, she said.

"Children make up 25 percent of the population and 100 percent of our future," Schooley said.

Locally, she said residents are not as concerned with national issues, and residents would rather their state legislators focus on issues that affect residents personally.

"Another thing I found really impacted the local race is I give people a lot of information," she added.

Schooley said she e-mails residents a newsletter containing information on local issues such as potholes, traffic problems and insurance.

"All politics are local and can really affect people dramatically at a local level," she said.

After voting at West Park Elementary School, Deborah Welch, 45, a resident in the 23rd District, said she hopes Schooley continues to look out for the citizens' interests.

"She's been a representative for a while, and I like the initiatives she's done for us," Welch said. "She's been really on top of things, especially with school systems."

Joe Vari, a Newark resident, voted a straight Republican ticket, and said he was disgusted with the state of the government.

"The last time I wanted to see change," Vari said. "Now we need to reduce government. You don't look to the government to pay your bills."

Stritzinger said he is not sure if he would run again, but he will remain involved in politics in some way. For now, Stritizinger said he hopes Schooley addresses the school systems and state spending during her term.

"She's going to be forced to deal with that—the $300 deficit spending," he said.

Although the results were not in Stritizinger's favor, he said he would not have changed anything about his campaign.

"I think for the three-and-a-half months we had to run it, we did a pretty good job based on the results," Stritizinger said.