Fortune Cultural Center co-founder Gilda Rogers, left, and Councilman Michael Ballard. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Red Bank’s Democrats have formed a Black caucus to “bring forward future civic leaders.”
The party announced the group’s formation on Monday, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
It’s official: Little Silver Republicans Mike Holzapfel and Kevin Brennan have secured the two open seats on the borough council, according to results posted on the Monmouth County Clerk’s website Monday evening.
The Fair Haven vote tally as shown on the Monmouth County Clerk’s website as of Monday evening. (Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven Democrats have won their first majority on the borough’s governing body in recent memory.
Nearly three weeks after voting closed, official results posted on Monmouth County Clerk’s website late Monday showed incumbent Councilman Chris Rodriguez and running mate Laline Neff won the two open council seats, displacing three-term Republican Susan Sorensen.
Only two candidates formally sought three seats on the borough school board. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A write-in candidate expects to join the Red Bank Board of Education when it reorganizes January 5.
And as telegraphed by early results from the November 3 election, a newcomer has displaced Red Bank Regional High board’s president.
For more than five hours Saturday, a small, rotating group gathered in Riverside Gardens Park for a low-key celebration of the election of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
There were no speeches: just virtual hugs, some tears, as well as cheers – punctuated by honking horns and occasional middle fingers from passersby on West Front Street.
Below are some some reflections on the election outcome among participants.
Little Silver Republican Mike Holzapfel, an incumbent, and running mate Kevin Brennan appeared to be pulling away from Democrats Stephanie Keenan, also an incumbent, and Joan Gotti in the race for two council seats as of Friday morning.
The administration building on the Red Bank Regional campus in Little Silver. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Newcomer Stephanie Albanese appears to have displaced incumbent president John Garofalo from the Red Bank Regional High board of education in Tuesday’s election.
As of 11 a.m. Wednesday, the Monmouth County clerk’s incomplete vote tally showed Albanese (seen at right) leading Garofalo, 1,352 votes to 649.
By JOHN T. WARD
Fair Haven Democrats appeared headed to a council majority for the first time in memory Wednesday.
With vote tallies incomplete, incumbent Chris Rodriguez and running mate Laline Neff held wide margins over incumbent Republican Susan Sorensen, who ran solo in pursuit of a fourth three-year term.
By JOHN T. WARD
The race for two seats on the Little Silver council remained too close to call early Wednesday.
As of 7:30 a.m., Stephanie Keenan, a Democrat with seven months of council experience, led all candidates with 1,193 votes, and first-term incumbent Republican Mike Holzapfel was only 10 votes behind.
But their running mates were still in the the running as Monmouth County election officials continued counting mail-in and in-person ballots.
Poll workers wrapping up a 14-hour day Tuesday night at Red Bank borough hall, the town’s only polling station for this year’s election. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Running unopposed, Red Bank Democrats Ed Zipprich and Michael Ballard were on an unimpeded path to re-election to borough council Tuesday amid a pandemic that depressed in-person turnout.
Red Bank First leader Scott Broschart at home on Hudson Avenue in August. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Scott Broschart is on a one-man quest to reform both Red Bank’s government and how people get elected to it.
Neither will happen this year. A referendum Broschart has been pushing for since July is not on the November 3 ballot. But Broschart says he’s perfectly fine with that.
A prospective voter peers inside Red Bank borough hall shortly before the 6 a.m. start of election voting Tuesday.
Amid concern about the spread of COVID-19, borough hall is the only polling location for all Red Bank voters this year. In-person voters will be given paper provisional ballots to complete; disabled voters only will use accessible voting devices.
Polls remain open until 8 p.m., the hour at which mail-in ballot drop-off boxes, including the one seen at right above, will be locked. Find more information here. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Councilmembers Ed Zipprich, center, and Michael Ballard with Kathy Horgan in January, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Neither of the two incumbents seeking re-election as Red Bank council members responded to questions sent to them by redbankgreen last week.
Democrats Ed Zipprich, seeking his fifth three-year term, and Michael Ballard, seeking his second, are running unopposed in the November 3 election.
Christopher Rodriguez. (Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are three candidates: incumbent Republican Susan Sorensen; incumbent Democrat Christopher Rodriguez; and his running mate, Laline Neff.
Here are Rodriguez’s written responses to questions posed to all three candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Susan Sorensen. (Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are three candidates: incumbent Republican Susan Sorensen; incumbent Democrat Christopher Rodriguez; and his running mate, Laline Neff.
Here are Sorensen’s written responses to questions posed to all three candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Laline Neff. (Click to enlarge.)
Fair Haven voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are three candidates: incumbent Republican Susan Sorensen; incumbent Democrat Christopher Rodriguez; and his running mate, Laline Neff.
Here are Neff’s written responses to questions posed to all three candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Kevin Brennan. (Click to enlarge.)
Little Silver voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are four candidates: Democrats Joan Gotti and Stephanie Keenan, and Republicans Kevin Brennan and Michael Holzapfel.
Here are Brennan’s written responses to questions posed to all four candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Joan Gotti. (Click toi enlarge.)
Little Silver voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are four candidates: Democrats Joan Gotti and Stephanie Keenan, and Republicans Kevin Brennan and Michael Holzapfel.
Here are Gotti’s written responses to questions posed to all four candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Michael Holzapfel. (Click to enlarge.)
Little Silver voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are four candidates: Democrats Joan Gotti and Stephanie Keenan, and Republicans Kevin Brennan and Michael Holzapfel.
Here are Holzapfel’s written responses to questions posed to all four candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Stephanie Keenan. (Click to enlarge.)
Little Silver voters will be asked to fill two three-year terms on the borough council in the November 3 election.
On the ballot are four candidates: Democrats Joan Gotti and Stephanie Keenan, and Republicans Kevin Brennan and Michael Holzapfel.
Here are Keenan’s written responses to questions posed to all four candidates recently by redbankgreen.
Jonathan Maciel Penney speaking at the West Side Community Group forum last October. (Photo by Ben Forest. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Both Republican candidates for Red Bank borough council seats in November’s election have formally dropped out of the race.
As a result, incumbent Democrats Michael Ballard and Ed Zipprich appear to have a clear glide path to re-election. Read More
Michael Clancy at the Red Bank 5K in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
[CORRECTION: Michael Clancy is no longer the GOP chairman in Red Bank. He did not seek re-election and was replaced July 27 by Jonathan Maciel Penney. Clancy now serves “as a placeholder on the county committee until I move out of Red Bank,” he told redbankgreen Monday evening. redbankgreen regrets the error.]
By JOHN T. WARD
Three years after he quit the Human Relations committee over a controversial text message, Red Bank Republican Chairman Michael Clancy mused about coughing on President Trump’s adversaries to “harass” them over weekend.
Mayor Bob Neff, joined by three council members standing far apart from one another, swears in Stephanie Keenan in her backyard April 9. (Photo by Elizabeth Keenan. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATE below]
By JOHN T. WARD
After what was probably the first socially distanced, backyard swearing-in ceremony in borough history, the Little Silver council will have a new member when it meets via Zoom Monday night.
Councilman Hazim Yassin in February, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Councilman Hazim Yassin tells redbankgreen he has assembled a bipartisan coalition of elected officials from across New Jersey to donate funds from their campaign warchests to the fight against the coronavirus.
Ed Zipprich, left, won a fourth term, and Michael Ballard, right, won his first in the 2017 election. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Two incumbent Democrats will defend their seats on the Red Bank council in the November election, the party announced Monday.
In an unsurprising move, the municipal and county Democratic committees unanimously endorsed Councilman Ed Zipprich‘s pursuit of a fifth three-year term, and Michael Ballard‘s quest for a second.