BELLEVILLE, NEW JERSEY — Councilman Frank Velez defeated eight-year incumbent Michael Melham in the Belleville, New Jersey, mayoral election on Tuesday. Velez received 3,281 votes, or 59.41% of the total, while Melham received 2,242 votes, or 40.59%, with 5,523 ballots cast out of the town's 26,760 registered voters.

Velez, 24, will assume office on July 1. He previously served as a trustee on the Belleville Board of Education while in college, sits on the Belleville Town Council, and served on the staff of former congressman Bill Pascrell. He has also managed social media strategy for local campaigns and still lives at home. He became involved in politics at age 19 because his sister has special needs.

"I feel grateful. I am humbled, and I'm just so ready to get to work as the next mayor of Belleville," Velez said. He said his victory was a testament to hard work.

"We ran on getting back to the basics, the quality of life. Talking about responsible development and just talking about getting back to the priorities of working people," he said.

On Wednesday, Melham addressed rumors about his vehicle in a Facebook post. "To address the rumors circulating today… the Mayor's car was NOT repossessed this morning!" he wrote. "I have a job and a great career. That said, I can confirm it was actually the new Mayor, the Mayor-elect's car that was repossessed. Like I said… I'm praying for you, Belleville."

Velez responded with a statement on the incident. "Right now Belleville families are recovering from a devastating fire. That's where my focus is. This was a clerical error fixed in a day and nothing more," he said. A 14-alarm warehouse fire broke out in Belleville on May 3, causing school closures, evacuations, power outages and home damage.

Micah Rasmussen, a researcher at Rider University's Rebovich Institute, said the fire alone did not determine the outcome. "Not even a crisis like the warehouse fire really can change things overnight. What it can do is reinforce concerns people may already have had," Rasmussen said. Commenting on post-election conduct, he added, "If you can't be gracious, then you probably shouldn't go out and give a concession speech at all."