Longtime Rumson GOP Mayor John Ekdahl is going for his fourth term as mayor facing familiar Democrat Michael Steinhorn.
Category Archives: Elections
GOP Keeps its Hold Streak in Rumson
By Elaine Van Develde
Historically, officials in Rumson can’t remember a time when a Democrat or independent sat on the governing body.
There has, however, been one consistent candidate for Borough Council for many years now — Michael Steinhorn.
This election was no exception. With two seats up for grabs — those of Republican incumbents Benjamin Day Jr. and Shaun P. Broderick — Steinhorn again threw his hat into the status quo ring, attempting to mix it up on the dais.
Garnering 512 votes, or 16.5 percent of the votes this time around, he failed. His campaign was characteristically low profile.
The top vote-getter in the Rumson council race was Day, with 1,313 votes, or roughly 42 percent of the votes. Broderick won 1,265 votes, or about 41 percent.
There were nine write-ins.
Dem Breaks GOP Hold on Fair Haven Council
By Elaine Van Develde
The unofficial results are in and they’re showing that, for the first time in more than a decade, the all-Republican hold on Fair Haven’s governing body has been broken.
Newcomer to the local political scene, Aimee Humphreys, has unseated longtime Republican incumbent Jerome Koch.
With what was considered a good voter turnout for mid-term elections at the borough polls, according to Monmouth County Board of Elections’ results tally, Humphreys beat Koch by more than 100 votes — her 1079 to his 963.
The high vote getter in the council race was Susan Sorensen, who won her second three-year seat on the dais with 1,216 votes, or roughly 37 percent to Humphreys’ approximate 33.
Total votes cast for the council race were 3,268.
There were five write-ins. And as “unofficial” results dictate, provision and absentee ballots have not all been counted.
Republican Mayor Ben Lucarelli has won his uncontested bid for re-election with 1,354 votes. There were 25 write-ins.
The last time the GOP hold on the dais was broken was when Joseph Szostak won his independent bid for mayor in 2002. He served one term through 2006 when former Mayor Michael Halfacre won the mayoral election.
He served until 2012, or one-and-a-half terms, when he stepped down upon being appointed by Gov. Chris Christie to serve as director of the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Watch for a follow-up interview with the newest member of the governing body and Sorensen.
Rumson, Fair Haven Elections: Incumbents Want More Time
By Elaine Van Develde
They apparently just haven’t had enough.
That’s why Fair Haven and Rumson borough council incumbents are running for additional three-year terms on their respective governing bodies — and largely unopposed.
Fair Haven Mayor Ben Lucarelli faces no competition for his first full four-year term. Lucarelli filled former Mayor Michael Halfacre’s unexpired term when he was appointed director of the state Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control in January of 2012. The current mayor then won the uncontested election to finish Halfacre’s term through 2013 in November of the same year.
Newcomer Democratic candidate Aimee Humphreys is vying for one of two seats up for grabs on Fair Haven’s Borough Council. Running a lower-profile campaign, she is attempting to unseat either Susan Sorensen or Jerome Koch, both Republicans, on a platform of lowering municipal taxes and fighting reassessments. Humphreys was unavailable as of press time.
Sorensen is competing for her second term on council and Koch has served since 2002.
The two are running on a platform of experience and track records in office for keeping municipal taxes flat for six years, garnering $3.5 million in grants to offset the cost of capital improvements and more. They say, in their campaign literature, that they would like to “continue to run our borough like a successful business.”
In Rumson, Republican incumbents Shaun P. Broderick and Benjamin W. Day Jr. are vying to keep their seats on council.
Their only competition is Democrat Michael Steinhorn, who has attempted to break the characteristically longstanding Republican hold on the governing body several times and lost.
Steinhorn also ran for Monmouth County Surrogate in 2011 and lost to incumbent and former Middletown Mayor Rosemarie Peters.
The polls are open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. at all the regular polling places in both boroughs.
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