Monmouth County Republicans appear to have settled on Andrew Wardell, a former Neptune City Mayor., and Jessica Ford to take on first-term Assemblywomen Luanne Peterpaul (D-Long Branch) and Margie Donlon (D-Ocean) in the politically competitive 11th district.
The Monmouth-based 11th legislative district went for Kamala Harris by four percentage points in 2024, and Gopal won it by 21 points in 2023. In 2021, Republican Jack Ciattarelli took the 11th by three points, while Gopal won his second term in the Senate by nearly four points.
Peterpaul and Donlon ousted one-term Republican incumbents Marilyn Piperno (R-Colts Neck) and Kim Eulner (R-Shrewsbury) by over 7,000 votes in 2023. The two had narrowly upset two Democratic lawmakers in 2021: Eulner ran 347 votes ahead of Joann Downey (D-Freehold), while Eric Houghtaling finished 781 votes behind Piperno and 781 votes behind Eulner.
Wardell lost his bid for re-election in 2023 by 17 votes to Democrat Rachel McGreevy, who was boosted by the landslide victory of State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch).
This is Ford’s second bid for office: she ran for the Neptune Township Committee last year and lost by 3,722 votes. Wardell was elected mayor in 2019 by 13 points.
The 11th district includes Allenhurst , Asbury Park , Bradley Beach, Colts Neck , Deal , Eatontown , Fair Haven, Freehold Borough, Freehold Township, Interlaken , Loch Arbour , Long Branch , Neptune City, Neptune Township, Ocean Township, Red Bank , Shrewsbury Borough, Shrewsbury Township, and Tinton Falls.