Panullo was elected to office in 2007 after unseating then-Republican Mayor William Agnellino. The victor ran as a Democrat, and at the time of his swearing in, he was the only Democrat on council.

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Panullo did not immediately respond to inquiries about his party switch.

Two other Democratic candidates ousted Republicans that year, which gave the blue party a dominance in the township of East Hanover, which currently has a population of just over 11,000 people.

Even though the leadership in East Hanover was mainly Democratic, the town overwhelmingly supported Republican Jack Ciattarelli when he ran against Gov. Phil Murphy in 2021. In fact, Ciattarelli garnered 74% of the vote.

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Republican dominance was also shown in 2020 when the town gave then-President Trump 66% of the vote, and in 2022 when Paul DeGroot collected 68% of the vote against Rep. Mikie Sherrill.

This year, DeMaio, Martorelli and Pannullo are up for re-election.

The party switch comes just two months after West Virginia state Sen. Glenn Jeffries announced he was leaving the Democratic Party to become a registered Republican.

Jeffries cited "economic development" as one of the reasons he switched parties.

Another elected official who left the Democratic Party was former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who claimed the party was "under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness."