MANCHESTER – Things will be changing once again in the township; the mayor’s chair will be opening up following the unsurprising victory for Mayor Robert Arace who will become an Ocean County Commissioner.
Arace will be one of two new faces on the Board of Commissioners starting a three-year-term when that Board organizes in January. He’ll be joined by Berkeley Board of Education President Jennifier Bacchione in replacing incumbent Commissioners Gary Quinn and Barbara Jo Crea on the five-member, all-Republican board.
Bacchione, who is married to Berkeley Mayor John A. Bacchione, is the executive director of the county GOP.
Arace and Bacchione defeated Democrats Regina C. Discenza, a former Lacey Board of Education member and Karen Sugden on election night. Bacchione received the most votes in that contest with 207,910; Arace received 205,639 votes; Discenza received 92,575 votes and Sugden received 91,742 votes.
Arace who is serving his second year of what was his first four-year term, stated he and Bacchione plan to invest more in the county’s vocational school district to make certain Ocean County students have the opportunity to pursue trade work after graduating from high school. He has also stated his support for the work performed by the Ocean County Office of Senior Services and the county’s Veterans Affairs Office having worked to establish satellite offices in the Whiting section of the township for resident services in those areas.
Mayor Arace is expected to resign from his position before the end of the year in order to take his oath of office to become County Commissioner in January. That will lead to an application process within the non-partisan township form of government. The all-Republican Council itself however will make the final determination of those applicants who apply. The person chosen is expected to be a member of the current council.
At a recent Township Council meeting, a resident asked who the new mayor would be but members of the governing body did not answer.
Arace became mayor by defeating incumbent Mayor Robert Hudak in the 2022 general election. They were both Republicans facing one Democrat but Manchester has a nonpartisan election. It was originally a narrow victory, requiring a run-off race in December of that year when the general election failed to provide a plurality.
Arace and Bacchione gave thanks to Ocean County Republican Chairman George R. Gilmore, who personally chose them to run for the two commissioner seats earlier this year. Many saw their selection as new candidates who would be loyal to Gilmore. Quinn and Crea did not support Gilmore in his bid to become Ocean County Republican chairman again. He had been removed from that after being convicted of tax evasion charges. However, he was later pardoned by President Donald Trump. Gilmore ran against Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy who he defeated in that internal party contest. Mastronardy’s position of sheriff comes up next year.
Three council members easily won re-election. Council Vice President James Vaccaro picked up the most votes with 15,019 while Councilman Craig Wallis took in 13,925 votes on election night. Councilwoman Michele Zolezi received 13,415. The three incumbents faced no challenges from a Democratic slate this year. The township has 40 voting districts. There were 421 write in votes.
The township’s school board race saw two people running for two, three-year seats. George Cervenak, 682 votes, and Mike Kelliher, 13,461 votes, won those spots on Election night.
