MANCHESTER – With three mayoral candidates and six council candidates seeking four-year terms each, this year’s township election was a bit crowded and out of the ordinary.
When all the dust cleared, it revealed an “inclusive outcome” which means a runoff will be held on December 6. According to the Township Clerk’s office that race will be between incumbent Mayor Robert Hudak and his council running mates and challenger Robert Arace and his team.
Hudak received 7,570 votes in the unofficial vote tally on Election Day but that only represents 44.26% and he needed 50% of the vote plus one to emerge the winner.
Challenger Robert Arace’s 5,354 votes represented 31.19%. They both ran against a third candidate in the form of Ken Seda who received 4,186 votes and 24.4% of the vote.
Hudak’s team received the highest number of votes for the two council seats but their percentage wasn’t high enough and thus will be part of the runoff race in December.
Incumbent Council President Joan Brush received 7,019 votes (21.9% of the vote) and her council running mate Timothy Poss earned 6,690 votes (20.87% of the vote).
This served as a political rematch between Hudak and Arace and now both will go another round in the political ring. Both are Republicans but Manchester has a non-partisan form of government. There is no primary race but they do employ petitions to get on the ballot and use slogans to run on.
Hudak ran with the slogan of “Manchester First-Continued Good Government.” He ran with Brush who first came into office in 2017 after winning a special election to replace Brendan Weiner on the council. Poss is a member of the Township Planning Board and a Pemberton police sergeant.
Arace’s slogan was “The Right Choice for Manchester” and his team featured Joseph T. Hankins, who received 5,105 votes and Roxanne Conniff who received 5,054 in the election.
Seda’s team ran on the slogan of “Manchester Deserves Better” and included Gloria E. Adkinson who received 4,198 votes and Karen Sugden who received 3,966.
Hudak, 45, a former aide to State Senator Diane Allen (R-Edgewater Park) defeated Arace by 14 percentage points in 2021, 57%-43% which represents a plurality of 2,100 votes. While he wasn’t serving as GOP County Chairman, George Gilmore backed Arace and Hankins, in last year’s race.
Despite Manchester’s form of government, political affiliation played a role in this year’s election as Gilmore, now back in control as GOP County Chairman, backed Arace once again along with his two council candidates.
Township Councilman Republican Craig Wallis served on the council for 18 years and chose not to run for re-election. He and Republican Councilman James Vaccaro backed Arace in last year’s election.
Gilmore, who first held the chairman position in 1996, resigned from his leadership role in 2019 after a federal indictment and later conviction on charges of tax fraud. He had been pardoned by former President Donald Trump in 2020 and returned to his position as GOP party boss by 13 votes following an organization vote on July 7.
Hudak backed Ocean County Sheriff Michael Mastronardy in the county chairman race against Gilmore.
Despite Manchester traditionally being a Republican stronghold, members of the Manchester Democrats began revitalizing their dormant organization this year. They started holding monthly meetings, and held both a mayoral and council candidate forum that was open to each of the three slates and attendance by all residents.
Seda and his fellow council candidates are members of the Manchester Democrats.
This race also divided sides in the form of Republican Assemblyman Brandon Umba of Medford who is in his freshman term and who was hired last year to serve as the township’s business administrator. Jesse Estlow, a former executive director of the Burlington County Republican organization was also hired by Hudak to serve as the mayor’s top aide.
Radio talk show personality Bill Spadea of 101.5 FM supported Arace on his morning show and made several campaign visits for him in the township.
County Clerk Scott Colabella said that the results are preliminary and exact numbers are likely to change for a few weeks after election night as provisional ballots and last-minute mail-in votes are counted.
