Crate Winning Brick Mayoral Race By Razor-Thin Margin; Republicans Sweep Council Races

Brick Township’s incumbent mayor, Democrat Lisa Crate, appears to have won a full term to continue in the powerful mayor’s seat, however there is the potential for provisional and any uncounted mail-in ballots to change the ultimate result of the hard-fought Brick mayoral election battle. But for the first time in well over a decade, Republicans swept the entire council race. While GOP opposition may be more vocal than in the past, Crate’s Democrats will maintain a four-seat majority and, thus, the ability to pass ordinances on party-line votes.

Crate, according to unofficial county results, won re-election by a slim margin of just 261 votes, with a gulf of less than 1 percent of votes separating the incumbent from her challenger, current school board president Madeline Iannarone. Crate received 16,705 votes compared to Iannarone’s 16,444 votes, based on 57 out of 57 voting districts having been counted.

Incumbent Councilwoman Heather de Jong, who has served stints as council president, was the only current officeholder to be ousted. Her running mates, Rocco LePore, whose campaign garnered monumental support from organized labor organizations, and Dan Ward, whose funding flowed from several progressive funding sources, were likewise defeated. Republican challengers, whose campaigns derived much of their funding from a combination of sources from local professionals and the powerful Ocean County GOP organization, won more decisive victories as compared to the mayoral race, winning by thousands of votes.

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This story will be updated with reaction from candidates and analysis as information becomes available.