For Mount Laurel Mayor Jim Keenan, now is a time for reflection.
Keenan, a Republican, was unsuccessful in his bid for state assembly.
Democrat Herb Conaway of Delanco has kept his seat in the assembly. He is joined by Palmyra’s Troy Singleton, also a Democrat.
By all accounts, it was a close race in the 7th legislative district.
Unofficial tallies show Conaway on top with 22,558 votes, Singleton with 22,008, Keenan with 20,608, and Republican Chris Halgas with 20,338.
Incumbent Republican Sen. Diane Allen won in the district over Democrat Gail Cook of Beverly. Allen received 25,166 votes while Cook garnered 19,279.
Keenan said his efforts weren’t wasted.
“I don’t consider working hard a failure,” Keenan said. “I devoted a lot of time to knock on as many doors as possible to introduce myself and to let people know that I was running to make things better for everyone in the district and the state.
“I feel that the people who met me knew that I was running for them,” he added. “Mount Laurel needed more people to show up to the polls and vote than what we saw.”
Keenan said he believes most residents of the township are happy and didn’t see the need to vote because they don’t understand that municipalities like Mount Laurel are not being funded properly by the career politicians in Trenton.
“I am a 51-year-old businessman who has devoted and sacrificed many hours for the last four years to keeping Mount Laurel afloat during a terrible economic time, while I run my own business and support my family,” he said. “I feel that the career democrat politicians, who rely on the public dole for their income, did exactly what their playbook called for by deliberately distorting the truth about my service to Mount Laurel and behaved in a very immature manner by distorting photos of me to make me look like a sinister politician.
“This way I was more like them and people would say that ‘all politicians are the same,’” Keenan added.
The question is, will he run again?
“I have to talk with my wife and children before I make any decisions to run again,” he said. “I just hope I can recoup my lost income since I spent so much time away from my business to try to meet as many people as possible to ask for their vote.
“God lets things happen for a reason, we’ll see what the future holds,” Keenan added.
