Republicans regained political control of Evesham yesterday, taking three open Township Council seats by wide margins.

Kurt Croft and Joe Howarth defeated Democrats Jill Whipple and incumbent Michael Schmidt for four-year terms.

Debbie Hackman was victorious over Alicia Marrone, a Democrat appointed to the council in January to replace Chris Brown after he was elected last year as a county freeholder. Hackman will finish out his term, which is up in 2011.

"I myself am absolutely excited," Croft said by phone last night, over the sounds of jubilant Republicans celebrating at campaign headquarters. "This is a big step, a big accomplishment . . . and we stand behind what the town wants and we're looking to deliver on that for them."

Republicans captured about 60 percent of the vote, according to unofficial results.

The GOP will control Burlington County's most populous town for the first time in two years. The party suffered a big setback in 2007, when three Democrats swept what had been a Republican-dominated council for decades.

Republicans were especially eager for a victory here after losing two county freeholder seats in 2008, allowing Democrats a seat on the board for the first time in 25 years. One of those Democrats was a 2007 Evesham victor, Chris Brown.

Having a majority of the Evesham council's five seats allowed the Democrats to pursue an agenda that led the township on a new course, and Democrats had hoped a win last night would allow that to continue. Winning in Evesham also would have offered the party momentum in the upcoming races for the 8th District Assembly and freeholder board.

"I offer my congratulations to the three new council members," Schmidt said. "I hope that as they take office they bring the spirit and passion for the town that I think I have and my two running mates have."

Saying it had been an honor to serve over the last four years, Schmidt added: "Our government will be changing in a couple of months, and our governing body needs to listen to our voters and work as well as they can together to address the needs of our community."

Howarth, with 2,387 votes, was the top vote-getter, according to the township.

"It's kind of humbling. I just don't really have a lot to say," he said. "I guess what I can say is that we walked the districts and we listened to what people had to say and now we're going to act on what we heard and try to take care of the people in this town."

In other contested races from yesterday's nonpartisan municipal elections, Heather Cheesman, Zigmont Targonski, and incumbent James Lynch were elected to the Board of Commissioners in Bordentown City. Incumbents Letitia "Tish" Colombi and Edward Borden Jr., and newcomer Jeff Kasko, were elected to Haddonfield's Board of Commissioners.

In Audubon, John Ward, William Gannon, and Kurt Bicking defeated all three incumbents for seats on the borough commission.