Ocean County primary election results: Toms River mayor passes his first job approval test

TOMS RIVER - Mayor Daniel Rodrick, who has been under intense public criticism for his “my way or the highway” approach to governing, has won his first test of public opinion, after his handpicked candidate for Township Council won the Republican primary Tuesday night, according to unofficial results from the Ocean County Clerk’s Office.

The annual primary election on this first Tuesday in June also saw an upset in the Democratic nomination for one of two seats open on the Ocean County Board of Commissioners and an anti-incumbency mood among local Republicans in Plumsted.

In Toms River, political newcomer William Byrne won the local GOP contest with 1,409 votes against former Councilman Kevin M. Geoghegan, who received 923 votes. Geoghegan, a retired Toms River police sergeant, clashed with Rodrick when they both served together on the council.

The nomination was for Rodrick’s old council seat. The seat, representing Toms River’s Ward 2, includes parts of the Silverton section, Green Island, the age-restricted communities of Greenbriar Woodlands and Holiday City Silverton, and neighborhoods near the campus of Ocean County College. In the Nov. 5 general election, Byrne will face Democrat Susan Payne Gato, a registered nurse, who was unopposed in her primary run on Tuesday.

Rodrick, who was elected last November with 70% of the vote, but who has made a number of divisive moves in his first five months in office, leading to an exodus of municipal employees, an extraordinary public battle with the chief of police and boisterous Township Council meetings since January.

Related: Toms River mayor has made enemies. Now he faces big election test in bitter GOP primary.

Also in Ocean County, a contested Republican primary in Plumsted resulted in an upset in the race for the Township Committee this year. Mayor Dominick Cuozzo and Township Committeeman Michael Hammerstone, who had secured the official Republican line, lost by a two-to-one margin to challengers James Hagelstein and Thomas Potter, who were running on the ticket “Republicans for Plumsted.” The vote tallies were: Cuozzo, 488; Hammerstone, 497; Hagelstein, 943; Potter, 948. Under Plumsted’s form of municipal government, the mayor is appointed by their fellow committee members to serve for a one-year term.

Elsewhere, a contested Democratic primary for two seats open on the Board of Commissioners this fall has resulted in what once could have been called a split ticket; possibly the consequence of a federal court order that affected only the Democratic primary ballot in 2024.

Kenneth Seda and Karen Sugden, both of Manchester, had been endorsed by the county’s official Democratic organization. They were challenged for the party’s nominations by former Lacey Board of Education member Regina C. Discenza, a well-known muckraker in local politics going back decades, and her running mate, Joseph Lamb of Brick.

With all of the county’s 414 voting districts reporting as of 11:30 p.m., Sugden was the top vote-getter with 10,896 votes; Discenza received 9,435; Seda 8,542; and Lamb 6,764. As a result, Sugden and Discenza will advance to the general election, according to the unofficial results.

Until now, candidates of both parties had been able to run as part of a larger ticket for federal, state, county and local offices. The candidates would be grouped together under a single column. Due to a legal challenge this year, the Democratic candidates were organized according to the office they were seeking. The order did not impact the Republican ballot this year.

Manchester Mayor Robert Arace and Berkeley Board of Education President Jennifier Bacchione were unopposed for the Republican nominations for the Board of Commissioners.

The five-member commission has been all-Republican since 1993, with no Democrat having been elected to the county’s governing body since 1989.

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There were also contested municipal Republican primaries in Beachwood, Ship Bottom and South Toms River.

In Beachwood, John P. Farro Jr. and Dan Santos glided to an easy win Tuesday night. The official GOP-endorsed candidates for Borough Council took 497 and 507 votes respectively. Their challengers Philip A. Schena and Todd Dexter, who were running as “Republicans for a Better Beachwood,” received 319 and 294 votes respectively.

In Ship Bottom, challenger Mary Basile, who ran under the slogan “Mary Basile is the Real Deal” outpolled the three other candidates for Borough Council. Basile received 133 votes in this small Long Beach Island borough. Also notching a win, incumbent Republican Councilman Joseph Valyo garnered 117 votes, while his running mate, Ken Yankowski, with whom he shared the official line, netted 93 votes and William J. Fenimore got 68 votes.

In South Toms River, incumbents Sam Fennell and Kayla Rolzhausen coasted to an easy victory, with Fennel garnering 151 votes to Rolzhausen’s 174. Challenger Anna Polozzo, a member of the Toms River Regional Board of Education since 2019, received 41 votes.

Contact Asbury Park Press reporter Erik Larsen at elarsen@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Ocean County NJ election: Toms River mayor passes first test