Brick 2021 Election Results: Ducey Wins 3rd Term, GOP Gets Seat

Updated, Nov. 3, 12:45 a.m.

BRICK, NJ — Brick Township Mayor John G. Ducey has won a third term as mayor, but the Township Council may have two Republican members for the first time since 2014.

With all districts reporting, unofficial vote tallies from the Ocean County Board of Elections show Ducey with 16,845 votes to 9,857 for Republican challenger Theresa Gallagher.

Results do not become official until certified by the Ocean County Clerk.

In the race for three council seats, unofficial tallies show Republican Perry Albanese is the top vote-getter, with 13,522. Democrat Marianna Pontoriero, Democrat Heather deJong, and Republican Mary Buckley are separated by about 100 votes for the second and third seats. Republican Ernest Arians and Democrat Derrick Ambrosino were more than 200 votes behind, according to the unofficial tallies.

The Republicans have not held the mayor's seat since 2014. The last Republican to serve on the council was Jim Fozman, who switched parties in June 2018 after a falling out with Ducey and the Brick Democratic Club.

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Gallagher and her running mates have criticized the Democrats over tax increases over the last five years, but Ducey and his team counter that they have not only held the line on tax increases compared with the Republican administration they unseated, they have reduced the township's capital debt.

On the Brick Township Board of Education, unofficial totals have voters returning incumbent board members Stephanie Wohlrab, Victoria Pakala and Nicole Siebert to the board. Pakala was the top vote-getter with 11,046. Wohlrab and Siebert were second and third, with more than 1,000 separating Siebert from Walter Campbell, who was hoping to return to the board after a brief stint in 2011-12. Frances DiBenedictis, a newcomer, was last in the unofficial vote totals.

With 57 of 57 districts reporting

MAYOR (four-year term)

John G. Ducey (D) 17,213
Theresa Gallagher (R) 10,019

COUNCIL (3 four-year terms)

Perry Albanese (R) 13,522
Ernest Arians (R) 12,685
Mary Buckley (R) 12,808
Marianna Pontoriero (D) 12,908
Heather deJong (D) 12,902
Derrick Ambrosino (D) 12,629

BOARD OF EDUCATION (3 three-year terms)

Walter Campbell 8,093
Stephanie Wohlrab 10,433
Victoria Pakala 11,046
Nicole Siebert 9,331
Frances DiBenedictis 6,004

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