Holmdel Township Committee 2022 Election Results: Republicans Leading

Editor's note: Vote totals were last updated as of 10:15 p.m.

HOLMDEL, NJ — Republicans were leading last night in unofficial results in the race for Township Committee.

Two Township Committee seats are open and the regular Republican party-backed candidates, Brian Foster and Kim LaMountain, were being challenged by Independents Julie Roth and Rajesh Mohan.

The unofficial vote count as of the time above was:

LaMountain, 3,883; Foster, 3,872; Roth, 2,279; and Mohan, 2,225.

Roth said her Independent team was not conceding the race, pending the counting of mail-in votes.

While the candidates shared common ground on many issues - the need to address car thefts in town, to tackle flooding and to keep spending under control - the backdrop of the campaign was always Monmouth County Republican politics, led by Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden.

The Township Committee had elected two Independents previously - Prakash Santhana and Cathy Weber (herself a Republican) - who supported a nonpartisan change of government to mitigate the influence of political parties in the town.

Weber and Santhana defeated the regular Republican-backed candidates in their elections, creating a new balance of power on the Township Committee.

But Weber resigned from office this year for a job relocation before the change of government vote in July. Santhana resigned in September for business reasons. Meanwhile the vote to permit a nonpartisan form of government was defeated on July 26.

Mayor Gregory Buontempo, a Republican who won election despite not being endorsed by the regular Republicans, had a coalition with the two Independents.

But now, in the minority on a three-person committee, Deputy Mayor DJ Luccarelli and Councilman Rocco Impreveduto appointed Foster to Santhana's unexpired term. Weber's term was never filled.