Brick Mayor Lisa Crate introduces the 2023 operating budget, March 28, 2023. (Photo: Daniel Nee)
Brick Township Mayor Lisa Crate, appointed to fill the seat of former mayor John Ducey and chosen by voters to fill out the remainder of his term in a special election in 2023, will seek her first full term in office this November.
Crate announced her candidacy as well as her running mates for seats on the township council late Wednesday. She is expected to face Board of Education President Madeline Iannarone, a Republican, in the general election. Democrats have held the mayor’s office in Brick since Ducey was elected in 2013, and have had an even longer run as the majority party on council. Since 2010, just one Republican, current council member Perry Albanese, was successful in municipal elections. Democrats currently hold a 6-1 majority on the governing body.
Running alongside Crate will be incumbent Councilwoman Heather deJong, who previously served as council president, and newcomers Dan Ward and Rocco Lepore.
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Ward has served on the township’s planning board for four years and has volunteered with numerous environmental groups including “Pick Up Brick,” while Lepore is an organized labor leader, currently serving as Senior Council Representative for the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters. DeJong works as a Community Relations Specialist for Meals on Wheels of Ocean County.
“We have kept taxes stable and that’s our most important job,” Crate said, touting her party’s record over the past decade. “It hasn’t been easy with inflation making everything cost more, but just like families across Brick, we are finding ways to do more with less.”
New Jersey’s primary election takes place June 10, 2025.
