Aveta, Torres, Cody Lead In Middletown 2025 School Board Election: Latest Results

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — All 49/49 of Middletown's voting precincts are in Tuesday night, and Chris Aveta, Erin Torres and James Cody are in the lead to win three seats on the Middletown school board.

These are unofficial results not yet certified by the Monmouth County Clerk. The county still has to count all the mail-in ballots, provisional ballots and certify the vote counts.

With all 49/49 Middletown voting precincts in, here are the results Tuesday night from the Monmouth County Clerk:

• James Dobis: 10,758 votes (16.03%)
• Chris Aveta: 11,393 votes (16.97%)
  
• James Cody: 11,197 votes (16.68%)
• Sara Weinstein: 11,166 votes (16.63%)
• Leonora Lacqua-Caminiti: 5,620 votes (8.37%)
• Joseph Fitzgerald: 5,377 votes (8.01%)
• Erin Torres: 11,213 votes (16.70%)
  

Total votes cast: 67,130

There was a fierce election for school board this year in Middletown. Seven candidates battled for three seats on the board. This comes in a year of turmoil for the Middletown school district: The superintendent announced earlier this year the district is $10 million in debt, and proposed a plan to close two elementary schools. This prompted an outcry from the community, and the current BOE voted to keep the two schools open and instead raise the school tax levy 10.1 percent.

Now, at election time, current BOE members Leonora Lacqua-Caminiti and Joe Fitzgerald defended why they voted for the 10.1-percent increase. They were challenged for their seats by James Dobis, Erin Torres and the Students, Parents, Taxpayers slate of James Cody, Chris Aveta and Sara Weinstein.

The Students, Parents, Taxpayers came out the most strongly against the 10.1 percent tax increase. Dobis said it would "have been irresponsible to vote against the increase," and Torres did not directly answer when asked how she would have voted. The Students, Parents, Taxpayers is also the only slate that received campaign donations from several companies that hold contracts with the Middletown school district. Middletown Mayor Tony Perry also donated to that slate.

Torres and Dobis ran on platforms that the Middletown school district is not transparent and hides information from the public.

And finally, all of this went on while one of the BOE candidates, Fitzgerald, is charged with serious gun crimes, for which he is facing prison time if found guilty. (Fitzgerald denies all charges.)

Middletown Township Committee Election 2025: Live Results