Clark Township voters took another look at Mayor Sal Bonaccorso and liked what they saw, giving him an apparent victory at the polls despite public allegations of corruption and a racism scandal in which he was caught using the n-word and grossly disparaging women in law enforcement. .

As of 10:15 p.m. Tuesday, Bonaccorso led challenger Michael Shulman by 5,299 votes to 2,605 in his bid for a seventh term at the helm of suburban Union County, according to unofficial results.

Bonaccorso, a Republican, has been the public face of the conservative town of 14,500 for nearly a quarter century. But this choice was a test of its popularitygiven pending criminal charges that he abused his office and revelations that he and police brass casually used racial slurs.

“We didn’t win,” Shulman said in a text message Tuesday night, while noting that his slate of Democrats fared better than his party did in previous elections.

Clark is a Republican stronghold where Donald Trump defeated Joe Biden 23 points in 2020 presidential contest. Shulman led a team of Democratic candidates who hoped that voter anger over the controversy — and its high cost to the city’s coffers and public reputation — would offset the political headwinds it usually faces.

“The election was closer than in previous years, but I am openly shocked that so many people in this city put party over self-interest and re-elected someone who is racist, corrupt and criminal,” Shulman said.

Bonaccorso, who denounced the pending criminal case against him, did not immediately return requests for comment.

Three Bonaccorso supporters on the city council — Angel Albanese, Jimmy Minniti and Bill Smith — also had major leads over their Democratic challengers Tuesday night, according to unofficial results.

Bonaccorso and his allies have faced a barrage of criticism since 2022, when NJ Advance Media revealed the township had quietly paid a $400,000 settlement to a whistleblower who secretly recorded Bonaccorso, Police Chief Pedro Matos and Internal Affairs Sgt. Joseph Teston grossly denigrated blacks. Bonaccorso also called the police officers “f—— disasters.”

Last year, Attorney General Matthew Platkin said his office “seriously considered” bringing criminal charges against local officials in the cover-up, but concluded they were not warranted. Platkin did so when he attacked the 2020 settlement as a misuse of public resources.

At the same time, Platkin announced unrelated allegations against Bonaccorso that accuse him of using his municipal office to benefit his private landscaping business and falsifying permit applications for work performed by his company. Those charges could send Bonaccorso to prison if convicted and bar him from holding public office.

Bonaccorso criticized the criminal record, dismissing the charges as “rubbish” and “another weapon against a MAGA Republican.” The longest-serving mayor in Clark’s history, Bonaccorso says that under his tenure, the township has been a safe community with good schools and good services.

But on the campaign trail, Shulman questioned whether Bonaccorso plans to take a plea deal after the election, pointing to a court hearing now scheduled for Nov. 20 that is listed for a “plea bargain,” according to court records. Shulman, a defense attorney, said a plea would force Bonaccorso to resign immediately after asking voters to re-elect him.

At a board meeting last month, Bonaccorso acknowledged that his attorney “has been talking to the attorney general’s office for several months,” but denied that a guilty plea is imminent.

“I have the right, if I want, to enter a plea. I have the right to fight this case,” Bonaccorso said. “It’s still being talked about.”

Meanwhile, Matos and Teston sue to keep their jobs. They and a third Clark officer have been on paid leave since July 2020 amid prosecutors’ lengthy investigation at a cost to township taxpayers of more than $2 million in back wages as of late September.

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Riley Yates can be reached at [email protected].

NJ Advance Media reporter Matthew Gray contributed to this report.