The Fair Haven and Rumson Election 2026 FYI

As people go to the polls to vote in Rumson and Fair Haven on Tuesday, or even if votes have already been cast, there are some facts about the boroughs’ governing bodies and their function and history that may have eluded many.

So, the notion in mind that an informed voter is a better voter, early voting or not, here are some local government facts that may enlighten and inspire:

Rumson and Fair Haven are both run under what is dubbed the Borough form of municipal government in New Jersey. There are several forms. While it may seem like a given that since Fair Haven and Rumson are both boroughs, the form of government follows suit with that name. It’s not.

The Borough form of government is partisan, meaning that borough council members are affiliated with their particular party and elected on that partisan ticket. This form of municipal government is also a “strong” council, “weak” mayor form of government. This means that the mayor does not vote, except in the case of breaking a tie among council members.

The mayor also has veto power over ordinances (which are, essentially, borough laws). The mayor’s vetoes, however, are subject to what is termed an “override” by a council two-thirds majority vote. The mayor sets the council meeting agendas with the borough clerk. The mayor also chairs, or runs, the meetings. Though the mayor does not need to run them. If not, the council president does. The mayor, too, has the power to make professional appointments and liaison assignments to council members with the advice and consent of council.

Each council member serves as a liaison to a particular department or organization within the borough to affect better communication between departments/organizations and the governing body.

The mayor can veto ordinances subject to an override by a two-thirds majority vote of the council. The mayor makes committee and liaison assignments for council members, and most appointments are made by the mayor with the advice and consent of the council.

Borough council members are elected to serve three-year terms on a six-member council dais in a completely volunteer capacity. They are not paid a cent to serve. The mayor serves in four-year terms and is elected separately as terms expire.

What happens when a borough council member must resign/retire?

If a borough council member must resign or retire due to emergent circumstances or a move and cannot complete their term on the dais, the governing body must fill the position within 30 days. The replacement, who is chosen from a pool of candidates nominated by the borough party organization (Democrat or Republican, depending on the party affiliation of the council member leaving), serves out the remainder of the term.

Note that the resigning elected official must be replaced with someone of the same party affiliation.

The person who was appointed must run in the November election to either complete that term as an officially elected official; or, depending on the seats up for grabs, can opt to run for a full term and run a newer candidate for the shorter, unexpired term.

In Fair Haven in 2026 …

The Fair Haven Borough Council and mayoral races are hotly contested this year. Four are vying for two council seats: those of Democrat, and mayoral candidate, Michal DiMiceli, completing her first term, and Republican Brian Olson, also in his first term. With current mayor since 2022, Josh Halpern, having decided not to seek reelection, history is being made with three in the running for mayor.

All three are women: Independent candidate, lifetime Fair Havenite and newcomer to the political arena, Diana “Ana” Anttonen; Democratic candidate and incumbent council member Michal DiMiceli, who is finishing her first term on council, and Republican three-term council member and president, Betsy Koch. The only other female mayor in Fair Haven’s history was Republican Nancy Kern in the ’80s.

Four are vying for the two seats up for grabs on council. Those seats are DiMiceli’s and that of Republican Brian Olson. Olson is running for his second term this election. His first term was marked by a split-ticket win with DiMiceli garnering the most votes of all council candidates in the 2023. She began to serve with Olson in 2024, the only Democrat on council at the time.

In addition to Olson running for a second term, Kristen Hoey, who served one term on council and opted not to run for a second when her term was up in 2025, is running with Olson and Koch as the Republican team.

Koch has one year left on council. Currently, she is council president. Should she win the mayoral race, her council seat will be filled for the remaining one year of her term with a nominated person of the same party affiliation. She would have to resign from council, vacate the seat when sworn in as mayor and the unexpired one-year council term must be filled in 30 days. Three people are nominated for council’s selection.

Next election, if the person who fills the unexpired term wants to stay on council, they must run for a full term.

If Koch does not win the mayoral election, she will just remain on council for the remainder of her term.

Fair Haven has long had a Republican-dominated borough council, with Democrats in more recent years winning seats. Currently, there are two Democrats on the Republican-dominated council — DiMiceli and Christina Malecki.

Also running for council on the Democratic team with DiMiceli are former Councilman Chris Rodriguez and newcomer Marian Croak. Rodriguez has previously served on council and ran for mayor a few years ago.

The major issues in Fair Haven are: affordable housing, business and residential zoning and revisiting the Master Plan, brush collection, garbage and recycling, the upcoming riverfront park next to the borough dock at 21 Fair Haven Road and maintaining quality of life at the riverfront and dock without infringing on the public’s passive recreation and fishing and crabbing rights on the waterfront, which carries with it guaranteed public access.

About Fair Haven

Fair Haven is a roughly 1.6-square mile borough with about 6,000 residents, most of them families and homeowners. The last U.S. Census report indicated that more than 70 percent of the residents of Fair Haven are married couples. There are roughly 1,700 families.

For more detailed information on the candidates, click on the embedded links in the text above according to corresponding candidates.

Editor’s Note:

Fair Haven mayoral candidates all answered a preliminary questionnaire with one question for an introductory story. It is embedded in links above.

All candidates, council and mayoral, were given the same, more detailed, questionnaire at the exact same time with a deadline of a few days later. Responses from Independent mayoral candidate Ana Anttonen and Democratic team members, mayoral candidate DiMiceli, Rodriguez and Croak were all received in a timely manner and published.

In an effort to maintain balance and account for the absence of the GOP team’s questionnaire responses, please note that there were no responses after several requests. Koch answered the initial request saying she did not have sufficient time to complete the questionnaire due to campaigning. In the interest of maintaining the utmost balance in election coverage, she was offered an extension courtesy. R-FH Retro received no response to two additional requests.

Neither Hoey nor Olson responded at all. They were sent the questionnaire along with all other candidates and there was no response at all from either.

The team did opt for a sponsorship with a link to their campaign social media. That is separate from the election coverage.

In Rumson in 2026

The Rumson Borough Council race is a more common than not uncontested one.

No nominations were made by Democrats to challenge the two seats to be vacated at then end of 2026 by Republicans Linda J. Smith and Jamie McManus.

Republicans in the uncontested running are McManus and Robert Eyerkuss III. Smith is not running for another term.

It is noteworthy that Rumson elections have rarely been contested with a governing body characteristically Republican-dominated.

Publisher’s note: You may have noticed that R-FH Retro’s candidates’ Q&As have intermittently been absent in more recent years. At R-FH Retro we, in true professional journalistic form, strive to ensure balance in coverage. Local election coverage is a big part of that goal.

Take a moment to read and process our position …

Traditionally, the press has served as a watchdog for the public, fielding questions in candidate interviews that target issues critical to the towns candidates are vying to serve. Accessibility, transparency and accountability are at the core of an elected official’s work.

In years past, in traditional newsrooms, Q&As were not the method chosen for candidate coverage. Interviews were conducted via telephone or in person and candidates used those interviews as opportunities to answer to the public they strove to get elected to serve. They, 99 percent of the time, responded to requests for interviews — and usually immediately and according to the journalist’s (very busy) schedule, not theirs. It was their opportunity to let the public get to know them via a skilled, unbiased professional.

With the advent of social media, candidates’ accessibility to journalists’ election interviews waned. Unfortunately, many, not all, candidates started to feel as if they didn’t need or want to respond to interview requests, as social media had become their public relations venue and they didn’t need the newspaper interviews upon which they used to respect and rely on heavily.

The problem with that is that there is a big difference between public relations and election coverage and news. True journalistic news coverage of elections has an invaluable benefit to the voters. The social media opportunity for candidates is great, but it is just that — social media and public relations, not balanced news coverage. In public relations, there’s no accountability, it’s just about promoting what you want to promote only rather than analysis and vetting of pertinent facts and issues via specific answers to pertinent-thought-out questions.

Traditionally, and rightly so, when there’s no response for a requested interview, the rule is three attempts and then a “refused to respond” is recorded.

In an effort to make things easier for candidates, journalists started creating election questionnaires tailored to the issues of each town and facts about the candidates’ backgrounds. We worked diligently to create the most interesting, effective questions, seeking thoughtful, specific answers to the public politicians serve.

We would like to thank the candidates, past and present, who were diligent, respectful and thoughtful about answering our Q&As. Thank you! The voting public thanks you! And to those who have supported R-FH Retro and its endeavors on the whole, and advertised we extend our sincere thanks. But, while sponsorship/advertising is completely separate from the election coverage, it offers a true public relations opportunity in addition to interviews that supported for hyperlocal journalism.

Thanks to those who have sponsored R-FH Retro!

Accessibility is key to the role of a true public servant. Remember that. Thank you and best of luck to all the candidates! The work is volunteer, so to all those who serve and are running, your dedication, regardless of side or issues, and efforts are to be applauded.