Holmdel Primary: Hinds, Nikolis Unofficial Winners In Tight Race

HOLMDEL, NJ — Eric Hinds and Mike Nikolis are the unofficial winners in the Holmdel primary race Tuesday, but because Nikolis won by only 12 votes, the race is still too close to call.

Five candidates ran for two open seats on the Holmdel Township Committee. They are: Nikolis, Hinds, Chiung-yin Cheng Liu, Nicholas Teetelli and Kimberley Lamountain. Hinds (Holmdel's current mayor) and Nikolis (deputy mayor) are both longtime incumbents.

As expected, Hinds won with a comfortable 33.5 percent of the vote (831 votes). Liu is Hinds' running mate. She received 25 percent of the vote ( 633 votes). But because Nikolis only beat her by 12 votes, receiving 26 percent (645 votes), the race is still too close to officially be called by the Monmouth County Board of Elections.

There are still 48 provisional ballots and they will be counted on Friday. At that time, it will officially be known whether Nikolis beat Liu.

"I'm going to be there on Friday when they count the ballots," said Nikolis Wednesday morning. "I'm in shock. I gave myself a 20 percent chance of winning. I got zero support from the county party and I did this — and paid for this — all on my own."

"It's unofficial, but as of now Mike won," Hinds told Patch Wednesday morning. "Hopefully, we can move forward and all do what is right for our town!"

Many in Holmdel were curious to see if Nikolis could keep his seat, as he ran without the support of the powerful Monmouth County Republican party.

Nikolis is a longtime Holmdel Township Committeeman. However, earlier this spring he had a falling out with the county party, led by Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden. Nikolis said he was told to "sit this one out." Instead of him, the Monmouth County Republican Party chose Liu to run as Hinds' running mate.

Liu is not a newcomer to Holmdel politics; she served on the Holmdel Board of Education for several years. But this was her first time running for Township Committee.

Nikolis, did, however receive the endorsement of the Holmdel Republican Party by a 2-1 vote.

Nikolis has been campaigning aggressively in the past few weeks to retain his seat.

As no Democrats are running, whichever two candidates won Tuesday will essentially "win" the general election in November. Unless an independent candidate runs, which is always a possibility.