One of the most intriguing chapters in Warren's history (at least for political junkies) is the township's switch from rock‑solid support of the Democratic party to rock‑solid support of the Republican party. The switch occurred in the decade before World War One.

From the 1850s to about 1910 Warren was a Democratic bastion, led first by the Dictator, Dan Cory, and later by Horace and Joel Coddington. After the Coddingtons were packed off to jail, the power of the local Democratic party was broken.

What caused this astonishing political transformation? Was it the downfall of the Coddingtons? Was it a revulsion against their kind of heavy‑handed machine politics (see our separate story about the stolen election of 1906)? Or did a new brand of political leader emerge who moved the township into the GOP column? Research to date has provided no solid answers.

The 1904 election saw "a splendid victory for the whole Republican ticket"

in Somerset County. Roosevelt defeated Democratic presidential candidate Alton Parker "by the unprecedented plurality of 1,440," reported the Unionist‑Gazette. "The news of the clean sweep by the entire Republican ticket in the county was received here with unbounded enthusiasm by the great crowds which assembled in Somerset Hall and on the streets on Tuesday night...." When North Plainfield's results were announced, clinching the GOP victory, "the hilarity of the crowds knew no bounds, and just at a critical time when it seemed the crowd must get relief or burst with enthusiasm, the band struck up outside, and the crowd with exultant shouts made a wild rush out of the hall to join in the ranks of a parade. With torches, red lights and horns the procession marched to the music of the band through the principal streets [of Somerville] and received a mighty ovation from the townspeople. The parade made its first halt in front of the residence of Charles Fury, the Democratic leader, and gave him a serenade."

Among the crowd was Warren's Edward E. Cooper, who had just been elected County Sheriff by a margin of 491 votes. He carried Warren by a mere nine votes. Warren Township, which voted 150 to 101 in favor of Parker, was the only township in Somerset County to support the Democratic presidential nominee.

In November 1905, the Democrats in Warren scored a clean sweep, electing their entire ticket: Horace Coddington, Township Clerk, Frank Allette, Township Committeeman, Charles B. Wicht, Constable, Phessenden Stites, Commissioner of Tax Appeals, and William Miller, Highway Surveyor.

Warren continued its Democratic ways in 1906 when, amidst a GOP sweep of the County, it cast only 52 votes for the winning Republican State Assembly candidate, William W. Smalley. His opponent, the Democrat William Steele, received 204 votes. Steele carried only Warren and Bedminster. Joel Coddington, another Democrat, was re‑elected to Warren's Township Committee.

According to a story in the Unionist-Gazette, "Mr. Steele's majority of 152 in Warren township went ahead of all calculations. This is said to be due to the bitter fight which was being waged in that township on the road question. Joel Coddington agreed to support the west side road, and there is where the big vote is. Republicans and Democrats alike went to the polls and voted the whole Democratic ticket in their eagerness to win out on the road question...." The Smalley‑Steele vote in Warren occasioned much consternation among Republicans, who questioned the outcome.

Raised eyebrows again greeted the results in Warren Township when the votes were counted in November 1907. Franklin Fort, the Republican candidate for governor, carried the county but lost in Warren by 17 votes. Assemblyman Smalley also won county‑wide, winning Warren by 12 votes. "Two very peculiar features of the returns were the way that Martinsville and Warren voted," reported the Unionist‑Gazette. "Both of these districts are normally Democratic. Martinsville returned 25 majority for Fort and 56 for Smalley. Warren township, which has not been known to cast a Republican majority once in a quarter of a century, gave seven majority for Fort and 12 for Smalley...."

Warren returned to the Democratic fold in 1908 when it gave 121 votes for the Republican William Howard Taft and 143 votes to the Democrat William Jennings Bryan. GOP Assemblyman Smalley carried the town by 15 votes.

Results were mixed in 1909 when Alfred E. Binz, Republican, was elected to the Warren Township Committee. Other Republicans elected were Andrew Haye, Justice of' the Peace, and James Ralph, Overseer of the Poor. Democrats John D. Bornman and George Bowers were elected Tax Collector and Tax Assessor, respectively.

Woodrow Wilson, the Democratic candidate for governor, won all of Somerset County by a landslide in 1910. "The great Wilson majority of over 700 was a revelation to all and the Republican workers have not fully recovered from the shock," reported the Somerset Democrat. "It was a complete turnover in Somerset with the great Wilson landslide pulling every candidate along." Wilson carried Warren by a margin of 141 to 102.

Somerset returned to the GOP fold in 1911 as Republican candidates for State Senator and Assemblyman won election comfortably. "Warren township turned turtle and elected a complete Republican ticket," reported the Unionist‑Gazette. "Minard G. Smith is the township clerk and John C. Cooper member of the township committee. Harry C. Zaiser was elected collector and Andrew Haye, justice of the peace."

Somerset flipped again in 1912 to the Democratic side when a two‑way split in the Republican Party delivered the county and state to Wilson, then running for president, against Taft, the incumbent Republican, and Roosevelt, standard bearer of the Bull Moose Party. Wilson won 99 votes in Warren, Taft 78 and TR 68. Interestingly, the combined Taft‑TR vote in Warren was 146, a sign of changes to come. Reuben Coddington, a Republican, was elected by Warren's voters to the County Board of Freeholders. Edward E. Cooper, the former Republican sheriff and State Assemblyman from Warren, carried the township by a margin of 136 to 97 but lost the county vote for Surrogate by 800 votes.

Somerset County voters delivered a mixed verdict in 1913, supporting the Democratic candidate for governor but backing the GOP in county‑wide races. Warren voters again supported Republican candidates, giving a margin of 6 votes to the GOP gubernatorial nominee. "Warren township showed a further tendency to break away from the old Democratic ties...," reported the Unionist‑Gazette. GOP candidates for Sheriff and County Clerk "both carried the township which can no longer be lined up a sure Democratic stronghold. "The County returned to the GOP column in 1914 as Republican candidates made a clean sweep. "Warren, the old Democratic standby, has come over into the Republican column," crowed the Unionist‑Gazette as it reported William W. Smalley's 30-vote plurality over both the Democratic and Progressive candidates.

Since 1914 Warren Township has voted consistently Republican (with occasional departures), a total reversal of its political leanings prior to that date.