Politics & Government

'New Sheriff in Town' As GOP Cruises to Victory in Ocean County

Freeholders, surrogate win re-election

Toms River Police Chief Michael Mastronardy took possession of a new badge Tuesday night: that of the Ocean County sheriff.

Mastronardy took the stage at the Ocean County GOP victory party in Toms River and may have given the shortest speech of the evening – but he garnered the loudest applause in the room as he made his way to the microphone.

"There's a new sheriff in town," said GOP Chairman George Gilmore, introducing Mastronardy, who won a decisive 68 percent to 31 percent victory over his opponent, Democrat George "Bob" Armstrong, also of Toms River.

"I look forward to working with all of the sheriff's officers," he said, pledging to do right by Ocean County residents.

Mastronardy garnered 102,446 votes compared to Armstrong's 47,946.

Mastronardy will be, essentially, the only new face in Ocean County politics as a result of Tuesday's election.

Republican incumbents sailed to easy victories in county-wide races.

Freeholders Jack Kelly and Jim Lacey won re-election by 2-1 margins over their Democratic opponents, Patricia Barndt and Joseph Grisanti.

Kelly and Lacey received 100,709 and 97,854 votes, respectively, compared with 47,326 for Barndt and 46,497 for Grisanti.

Jeffrey W. Moran, a Republican, won another term as Ocean County's surrogate, collecting 100,954 votes compared to 45,869 for his Democratic rival, Michael Collins.

Mastronardy said after his address that he expects to be sworn in as sheriff in January.


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here