BOE Member Mark Soporowski Is Running For Middletown Township Committee

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — As there is every year, there will be an election in November for two seats on the Middletown Township Committee.

The seats currently held by Committeeman Ryan Clarke and Committeewoman Kimberly Kratz are up for re-election. They are both Republicans; the Middletown Twp. Committee is all Republican.

Clarke will ask voters to re-elect him again, but Kratz decided not to seek re-election. Middletown resident Morganne Dudzinski, a Republican, will run. School board member Mark Soporowski is also running.

First, there will be a primary in June: Soporowski, Clarke and Duzinski will battle over which two will appear as the two Republican candidates on the November ballot.

There are also two Democrats running, Shawn Wallach and Jeremy Seideman. Wallach and Seideman are familiar names, as they are the two Democrats who ran for Middletown Twp. Committee in 2025.

Clarke and Dudzinski are the candidates backed by the official Monmouth County and Middletown Republican parties, and Soporowski is running as the wild card, independent Republican candidate.

Can he split the Republican ticket in Middletown? That remains to be seen in June.

"Yes, I filed to run," Soporowski said Friday. "A lot of encouragement from people in town pushed me to step up."

He said he was very busy at work now (he owns Gateway Liquors), but would talk more next week, so stay tuned. Soporowski has been very vocal against closing and consolidating Middletown schools. If he won election to the Township Committee, he would have to resign from his seat on the school board. It is illegal to hold two elected offices in New Jersey.

The primary election will be June 2.

Directly from Middletown town clerk Heidi Pieluc, here is who filed to run for those two seats:

• Democrat Jeremy Seideman, backed by the Monmouth County Democratic Organization
• Democrat Shawn Wallach, backed by the Monmouth County Democratic Organization
• Republican Ryan Clarke, backed by the Monmouth County Republican Organization
• Republican Morganne Dudzinski, backed by the Monmouth
  County Republican Organization
• Republican Mark Soporowski, running under Middletown First Republican

Meet Shawn Wallach, Democrat Running For Middletown Township Committee (Oct. 2025)

Meet Jeremy Seideman, Democrat Running For Middletown Township Committee (Oct. 2025)

Meet Mark Soporowski, Running For Middletown School Board (when he ran for school board the second time, 2024)

Middletown Twp. Committee Race: Ryan Clarke On Why He's Running (Clark when he ran for election six years ago, 2020)