In the New Jersey 2nd Congressional District, which includes all of the Southern Ocean County municipalities covered by The SandPaper, incumbent Republican Jeff Van Drew won in Ocean County, garnering 25,952 votes to Democratic challenger Zach Mullock’s 18,667. However, the sprawling 2nd District also includes all of Atlantic, Cape May, Salem and Cumberland Counties as well as portions of Gloucester County.

Van Drew ended up losing his race to Mullock, the mayor of Cape May. Van Drew called Mullock to concede at 10:24 p.m. Tuesday when Mullock was leading by a 52.1% to 46.9% margin. As of 10:20 a.m. on Wednesday morning, 95% of the district’s votes had been tallied, and Mullock had received 135,445 votes to Van Drew’s 129,028.

The district had been considered reliably safe for the GOP. After all, in 2024 Van Drew defeated Democrat Joe Salerno by a 215,946 to 153,117 count. But unfortunately for Van Drew, the district got caught up in the Blue Wave that swept the U.S.

In local races, Republican incumbents in Barnegat and Little Egg Harbor staved off strong challenges from Democrats. In Ship Bottom, Republican William Fenimore was elected to move from the borough council to the borough mayor’s seat in January.

Meanwhile, near-complete returns show Ocean County’s voters strongly approved an open space preservation tax increase by a 107,293 to 70,510 vote.

The Ocean County Natural Lands Trust tax was established by voter referendum in 1997 with a 1.2-cent tax per $100 assessment on private property. It was amended in 2019, with no tax increase up to this present day, “for the acquisition, development and maintenance of lands for recreation and historical preservation purposes.” Tuesday’s General Election referendum asked voters to raise the tax to 2.2 cents per $100 assessment on private property, which equates to $22 per year for every $100,000 of private property assessment.

Here is a summary of unofficial Election Day results from voters in The SandPaper readership area.

Barnegat Light 

Mayor Ed Wellington was elected for a four-year term. For borough council, incumbent Mary Ellen Foley and newcomer Daniel Malay were elected to three-year terms, and incumbent Joseph Saburn was elected to complete the last year of an unexpired term.

All four are Republicans who were unopposed on the ballot.

Wellington moved from councilman to interim mayor following the August 2025 death of Mayor Kirk Larson.

Barnegat Township

Republicans maintained their 5-0 majority on the township committee as Alfonso Cirulli and Joseph Marte won re-election to three-year terms.

Marte, who was initially elected in 2020,  got the most votes, with 5,489. Cirulli received 5,487. Cirulli was elected to his fourth term; he had served eight years in an earlier stint.

Votes for their Democrat challengers were Marianne Clemente, 4,659, and Cassandra Licata-Link, 4,660. Clemente is president of the Barnegat Democratic Club, and a previous candidate for township committee.

Barnegat School Board

Three incumbents won three-year terms on the board. Vice President Doreen Continanza led all candidates with 4,029 votes, followed by Sandra Churney (3,806) and George Fedorczyk Jr. (3,192).

Just missing the cut was Richard Quelch, a former board member, who received 3,179 votes. Newcomer Ronald Tola pulled in 2,409.

Continanza was elected three years ago, and had previously served four years before relocating to Florida. She later moved back to Barnegat. Churney won her third term and Fedorczyk his second. Quelch won a school board seat in 2019 but lost a re-election bid in 2022.

Beach Haven 

Jamie Baumiller and Catherine “Kitty” Snyder were re-elected unopposed to four-year terms on the non-partisan borough council. Baumiller is the council president.

Beach Haven School Board 

Deborah Harkness and Jennifer Tomlinson ran uncontested for three-year terms.

Eagleswood Township 

Re-elected to the township committee on Tuesday was incumbent Republican Michelle Sysol, currently serving as deputy mayor, who ran uncontested. Her term is for another three years on the three-member governing body.

Eagleswood School Board 

Isabella Pharo and Jennifer Zappia were elected unopposed for three-year terms.

Little Egg Harbor Township

In Little Egg Harbor, Republican incumbents John Kehm and Suzanne Musto-Carrara were re-elected to the township committee for three-year terms. Kehm received 4,711 votes; Carrara received 4,703. Kehm and Carrara beat out Democratic candidates Gabriel Franco (3,296 votes) and Leah Poinsett (3,320 votes).

Kehm has long served on the Little Egg Harbor Township Committee and has previously been mayor. Musto-Carrara was appointed to fill former committeeman Ray Gormley’s seat earlier this year after he was elected Ocean County commissioner. Franco has previously been on the ballot for township committee, but has so far been unsuccessful; he also ran for state senator representing District 9 in 2023. This was the first campaign for Poinsett, who is a local business owner.

Little Egg Harbor School Board

There was an unopposed election here. Dennis O’Keefe was elected to a three-year term.

Long Beach Island Consolidated School Board 

Danielle Hagler was elected to a three-year term, unopposed to represent Long Beach Township. To represent Ship Bottom, voters elected Jason Capelli, who ran unopposed for a three-year term. To represent Surf City, voters elected Michael Russo, who also ran unopposed for a three-year term.

The LBI School Board is comprised of nine members – four from Long Beach Township; two from Surf City; and one each from Barnegat Light, Harvey Cedars and Ship Bottom – who serve terms of three years before facing reelection.

Pinelands Regional School Board 

Two seats were available to represent Little Egg Harbor Township. Stephanie Johnson was elected to a three-year term, unopposed. The second seat, to fill the remaining two years of an unexpired term, did not have any candidates.

Representing Tuckerton, David Hewitt was elected to a three-year term, unopposed. Hewitt is currently the regional school board president.

Ship Bottom 

Incumbent Republican Councilman William Fenimore won Ship Bottom’s contested mayoral race, taking home more than half of all votes cast, according to election night results.

Fenimore outpaced his opponent, independent Jim Ulrich, 388 to 246 across all methods of voting. On Tuesday, in-person voting in Ship Bottom garnered Fenimore 198 votes to Ullrich’s 94, preliminary results show. The mayor-elect took home 120 in early voting and 70 mail-in ballots, while Ullrich netted 64 early votes and 87 mail-in votes.

“The people in Ship Bottom have spoken. They wanted transparency. They would like to be part of the discussion, to be involved in how we go forward,” Fenimore said Tuesday evening at borough hall, shortly after the results were in. “I believe we need community involvement, and I think this vote is a mandate towards that.”

Councilmen Edward English and David Hartman were re-elected for three years; the Republican incumbents were unopposed. English is the council president.

Southern Regional School Board

Paul Sharkey ran unopposed for the available seat as a representative of Beach Haven. Heather Tatur and Paul Metzger, who was appointed to the board earlier this year, were also elected unopposed for their three-year terms as Stafford Township representatives.

Stafford School Board

With a one-year, unexpired seat available, former board member Taylor Brennan defeated current member Keith Mollema.

Brennan, who resigned from the board in 2023 after being elected to it in 2022, received 3,744 votes to grab the seat. Mollema, appointed to the board last December following the resignation of Robert Morello, will not be back with the board in January after receiving 3,140 votes.

For the trio of standard-term, three-year seats open in this year’s election, incumbents Bonnie Strouse, Brian Fenlon Jr. and Gregory Gioe were unopposed for re-election.

Surf City 

Voters elected Councilmen William Hodgson and Lee Lieber for three years; the Republican incumbents were unopposed. Hodgson is the council president.

Tuckerton 

Michael Dupuis Sr. ran unopposed for mayor. He will succeed longtime Mayor Susan Marshall, who was not on the ballot for another four-year term. Dupuis served in various community roles, including as a board of education member, before joining the borough council in 2023.

Borough council will have two new members come Jan. 1. Renee Gioiello and Donald Rocheskey, on the Republican ballot, were elected unopposed to begin three-year terms in 2027.

Tuckerton School Board 

One available seat, to fill a three-year term, did not have any candidates.

Ocean County Vote for U.S. Senator, New Jersey

With 415 of 420 districts reporting, Republican Justin Murphy had 111,986 votes to incumbent Democrat Cory Booker’s 93,184 in New Jersey’s U.S. Senate race. That was only the count in heavily Republican Ocean County. The Associated Press called the race for Booker statewide, just five minutes after the state’s polls closed.

Ocean County Commissioner

With 417 of 418 districts reporting, incumbent Republican Ocean County Commissioner Frank Sadeghi had collected 122,130 votes to Democrat Kia C. Phua’s 80,729. It will be Sadeghi’s second three-year term.

Among Ocean County’s 482,545 registered voters (6,300 more than last year), 50,508 went to Early Voting polls (Oct. 24-Nov. 1), and at least 40,272 sent Vote By Mail ballots by Tuesday’s deadline. Late ballots postmarked by Nov. 3 will be added to the count as they arrive in days to come.