Hours before the mayoral candidate backed by the Red Bank Democratic organization lost the primary election to a newcomer, Democrats pulled the trigger on Plan B.
At 12:46 PM on Election Day, Democratic Councilwoman Jacqueline Sturdivant filed a nominating petition to mount an independent campaign for mayor.
An off-the-line outsider, businessman Bill Portman, defeated Councilman Michael Ballard by 21 percentage points in Tuesday’s primary.
Portman supporters also appear to have captured a majority of seats on the Democratic county committee, something that likely means the end of controversial Councilman Edward Zipprich’s tenure as the municipal chairman. Kate Triggiano, a councilwoman and frequent Zipprich foe, is making calls in a bid to run for municipal chair, the New Jersey Globe has learned.
Sturdivant, a Ballard backer and Zipprich ally, is now trying to make it a three-way race in the general election against Portman and Republican Brian Irwin. While Red Bank is a Democratic town – Gov. Phil Murphy carried it by a 59%-39% margin last year – a split among Democrats could create an opportunity for Republicans to win.
Zipprich appeared to be in on the alternative plan in the event of a Portman victory. He was the one who notarized Sturdivant’s petition. Had Ballard lost, Sturdivant could have simply withdrawn from the race.
Sturdivant’s petition could face a legal challenge.
An independent candidate needs 72 signatures to get on the ballot and Sturdivant filed with 84. But of the 84, the New Jersey Globe has leaned that 28 of them also signed Ballard’s petitions to get on the primary ballot.
Among the Sturdivant petition signers were Ballard’s wife and daughter, his two council running mates, Angela Mirandi and John Jackson, and Edward McKenna, a former four four-term mayor.
State election law prohibits voters from signing more than one petition – the petition stated that “we the undersigned…have not signed any other petition of nomination for the primary or general election” – but judges have viewed that requirement as fungible in the past.
A state appellate court upheld Judge Thomas Brogan’s decision to allow Alex Mendez to run for mayor of Paterson in the May 2022 election even though the candidate’s petitions included signatures from voters who had also signed another petition. Without those signatures, Mendez would not have had enough to qualify.
But that ruling specifically supported the municipal clerk’s discretion on the certification of the petitions and did not overturn the statute.
Zipprich did not immediately respond to a 1:02 PM text message seeking comment on the independent petitions, although he did use his text to respond to a call to his cell phone.
The decision to certify Sturdivant’s petitions will be made by Monmouth County Clerk Christine Hanlon, if she receives a formal challenge to them.
Among the many quirks of New Jersey’s byzantine election laws is that primary candidates for municipal office file petitions with the municipal clerk, who accepts or rejects them locally, but independent candidates for the same office must file with the county clerk.
Red Bank is currently considering a proposal to switch to non-partisan municipal elections.
The incumbent mayor, Democrat Pat Menna, is not seeking re-election.