Republicans Valentine, Morr Win Open Orangetown Council Seats (VIDEO)

Four years ago, Tom Morr was voted from the Orangetown Town Council as Michael Maturo and Nancy Low-Hogan were voted in, giving Democrats four of the board's five spots.

Tuesday night, Morr was voted back onto the Orangetown Council along with fellow Republican Paul Valentine, giving the Republicans four of the five spots on the council, with incoming Supervisor Andy Stewart as the lone Democrat.

"It's good to be going back," Morr said. "I really enjoy working with the people of the town. I've done it the last 25 years in one capacity or another. Under the circumstances, with the budget issues and challenges we face, it's going to be interesting. I like working on interesting challenges."

"I'm so excited to represent the people of Orangetown," Valentine said. "I was the biggest vote-getter by far, and that means that they put their trust in me. I will live up to their trust. I will work very hard for the people of Orangetown.

Low-Hogan decided to run for the Rockland County Legislature rather than pursue a second term on the town board. She defeated Guy DiVincenzo Tuesday for the District 17 seat.

With Maturo choosing not to run again, that left no incumbents on the ballot. Robert Dell and Elijah Reichlin-Melnick ran on the Democratic line.

Valentine won the four-way battle Tuesday with 6,144 votes (30.7 percent), with Morr bringing in 5,225 votes (26.1 percent) to earn the second open seat on the board. Dell finished with 4,607 votes (23 percent) and Reichlin-Melnick had 4,043 (20.2 percent).

"Of course I'm a little bit disappointed, but I had fun," Reichlin-Melnick said of his first political campaing. "I think I offered voters a good campaign. It shows that it's hard to go as an unknown candidate in a town with 50,000 people. I also think people feel comfortable voting for people they know, and I just didn't get to introduce myself to as many people as I needed to."