Nine candidates filed for five seats on the Ocean Township Council, including five incumbents running on the Ocean United slate.
Mayor John Napolitani, Deputy Mayor Margie Donlon, councilmembers Rob Acerra, David Fisher, and Kelly Terry are running together in the May non-partisan municipal election.
They will face former municipal prosecutor Mario Delano, realtor Julia Surmonte, Gene Talarico, the husband of a school board member, and 2019 candidate Jacquelyn Wenzel.
“Representing Ocean Township residents has been our top priority, and if re-elected on May 9th, it will continue to be,” the incumbent slate said in a statement. “The Town Council must continue fighting to keep local taxes stable and bring down the cost of doing business. It’s imperative we work to make Ocean more affordable for our seniors and families.”
Acerra had been dropped from Mayor Christopher Siciliano’s ticket in 2019 after he ran for the State Assembly as a Republican two years earlier. But he was re-elected in the last election, and with Siciliano out of office – he is now the Monmouth County Superintendent of Elections – he’s back on the slate.
Terry, who was appointed last year to replace Siciliano, founded the Mya Lin Terry Foundation to honor her daughter, Mya, who was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma while in Kindergarten and died five-and-a-half years later in 2013.
Donlon is also seeking the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the 11th district. She has said she would resign from the council in January if she wins. That would prompt an appointment early next year, and a November 2024 special election.