Belleville Mayor Mike Melham was the only Essex County Mayor to endorse Republican Jack Ciattarelli for governor.

The race isn’t over.

But four years ao, Democrat Phil Murphy won Belleville 2-1.

Tonight, he’s behind by 125 votes without VBMs or provisional votes counted.

“It says a lot about Belleville, which is 48 percent Hispanic,” said the mayor. “Democrats have taken Hispanics for granted. Many of the Hispanic families in Belleville or working class people who don’t align with the left wing practices of where this party was going.”

Melham said that while he endorsed Ciattarelli and held a fundraiser for him, he didn’t go all out, in the sense that he was trying to be the Essex County version of Brian Stack.

Ciattarelli did roll in just prior to Election Day, but only for some lowkey hand contact.

“We had a mayor who endorsed and supported him but it was just organic support,” Melham said. If I had pushed, the numbers would have been much bigger.”