After GOP primaries, big changes coming to Ocean County government

Thanks to a series of retirements this year, Ocean County’s local government is set to look quite a bit different come 2026, continuing the turnover that has been reshaping the county since Ocean GOP Chairman George Gilmore retook control three years ago.

Ocean County Commissioner John Kelly (R-Eagleswood), who has served on the county commissioner board since 1993 – making him the second-longest serving county officeholder in the entire state – has won tonight’s primary for Ocean County Clerk, the New Jersey Globe projects. The office is open thanks to longtime incumbent Scott Colabella’s retirement at the beginning of this year; former Assemblyman John Catalano (R-Brick) has been holding the office on an acting basis since then.

Kelly faced Rory Wells, an attorney and former assistant Ocean County prosecutor. Wells was loosely affiliated with Jack Ciattarelli’s campaign for governor, while Kelly ran on the Ocean GOP ticket, which supported Bill Spadea. As of 9:09 p.m., Kelly leads Wells 68%-31%.

In the race for two county commissioner seats, meanwhile, two newcomers are set to replace Kelly and Commissioner Virginia Haines (R-Toms River), who is retiring. Sam Ellenbogen, a leader in the Toms River Orthodox Jewish community, and Ray Gormley, a township committeeman in Little Egg Harbor, won the GOP commissioner primary unopposed; both were supported by Gilmore.

Their victories mean that the county commissioner board will have witnessed a 100% turnover rate in just the last few years. Commissioner Frank Sadeghi (R-Island Heights) was first elected in 2023, and Commissioners Robert Arace (R-Manchester) and Jennifer Bacchione (R-Berkeley) were elected last year.

All five current or prospective commissioners are Gilmore allies – and the commissioners they replaced or will replace were all Gilmore skeptics. Gilmore first became GOP chairman in 1996, but left in 2019 after being convicted on federal tax charges; he then got a pardon from Donald Trump and won back the chairmanship in 2022, and has since become one of the state’s most influential Republican leaders once again.

One of Gilmore’s erstwhile foes, though, isn’t going anywhere: County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy, who narrowly lost the 2022 GOP chair race to Gilmore, won renomination to the sheriff’s office uncontested tonight. (All five county commissioners at the time supported Mastronardy in that race.)

Democrats are running a ticket of Arthur Halloran and Brandon Rose for county commissioner, Samuel Pinkava for county clerk, and Jeff Horn for county sheriff, but all four stand essentially no chance of winning in the state’s reddest county.