Vito Perillo is a 93 year old World War II veteran who scored a major upset victory last night in a New Jersey mayoral race in the city of Tinton Falls. Since the mayoral races there are non-partisan, it doesn’t say if Vito Perillo is a Republican or Democrat. But who cares? He’s 93 years old and will now become a mayor! How cool is that? Watching incumbents lose is always nice to see anyway.
| Cool! 93 year old World War II Vito Perillo scores upset election win in New Jersey |
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A 93-year-old World War II veteran scored a surprise victory over an incumbent New Jersey mayor in Tuesday’s election.
Vito Perillo defeated Tinton Falls Mayor Gerald Turning in the nonpartisan municipal race.
“I didn’t think I had a chance,” Perillo told NJ.com.
But his grandson, Mike Perillo-Gentile, said he wasn’t surprised. “When he wants to do something, he does it,” Perillo-Gentile said.
Perillo, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Pacific theater, told the Asbury Park Press his entry into the race was spurred by a pair of whistleblower lawsuits involving the police department that cost the borough a reported $1.1 million in settlements.
Turning was the borough police chief from 2004 to 2011 and also was the borough administrator from 2010 to 2014. He was seeking his second term as mayor after running unopposed in 2014.