Manchester 2022 Election Results: Hudak Leads Mayoral Race

Updated, 11:45 p.m.

MANCHESTER, NJ — Incumbent Robert Hudak appears to have won election to a full term as mayor of Manchester, according to unofficial results from Tuesday's election.

Hudak was leading with 7,570 votes, appearing to turn back a challenge from Robert Arace, who trailed by 1,200 votes, with 5,334, according to the unofficial results. Ken Seda was third with 4,186 with all districts reporting.

The results are unofficial until certified by the Ocean County Clerk.

Hudak was appointed as mayor in 2021, when Ken Palmer stepped down to become a Superior Court judge. He defeated Arace in the election for the one-year unexpired term in November 2021.

In addition to the mayoral race, Manchester voters were choosing two members of the Township Council. Each mayoral candidate had council members as running mates, and Hudak's running mates, Councilwoman Joan Brush and newcomer Timothy Poss, were leading by more than 1,500 votes over their nearest challengers.

According to the unofficial tallies, Brush was leading all vote-getters among the council members with 7,019 votes. Poss had 6,690. Joseph T. Hankins, who along with Roxanne Conniff was running with Arace, had 5,105 votes, and Conniff had 5,054. Gloria E. Adkinson had 4,198 votes and Karen Sugden had 3,966; they were running with Seda.

While Manchester's government is set up as a nonpartisan entity, the 2022 election campaign, like the 2021 campaign, has had visible partisan influences.

Arace has the backing of George Gilmore, who has regained the chairmanship of the Ocean County Republican Club after being forced to step down in 2019. Gilmore was convicted on federal charges of failing to pay over payroll taxes and fraud on a bank loan application; a pardon issued by then-President Donald Trump meant that Gilmore avoided jail time.

Hudak, Brush and Poss are part of the Manchester Republican group that has resisted Gilmore.

Seda and his running mates are backed by the Ocean County Democrats.

Both Seda and Arace attacked Hudak, accusing him of supporting overdevelopment in part because of his role as deputy township planner in Toms River and background as a municipal land use planner.

Seda and Arace made misstatements about the potential for homes to be built at the Heritage Minerals site, which has been a persistent concern among residents. There is a court settlement from 2004 that the state Department of Environmental Protection, the Pinelands Commission, Manchester officials and Hovsons, the developer that owns the 7,000-acre property signed off on; it will allow Hovsons to build 2,450 homes on the property. A proposal under Palmer's administration would have permitted nearly twice that figure, but the DEP did reject that proposal.