RB Dem Incumbents Will Be Challenged by GOP Candidates for Council

There are two Red Bank Borough Council seats up for grabs in November and two incumbent Democrats will be facing off with two familiar Republican challengers, according to the primary election filings.

Councilwoman Sharon Lee, of East Westside Avenue, and Kathleen Horgan, of Branch Avenue have filed to run for another three-year term each.

The two will be challenged by Red Bank Board of Education member Sue Viscomi and environmentalist Cindy Burnham.

The Republican challengers got the GOP nomination, unchallenged. Viscomi, now serving the last year of the two-year unexpired term she won on the board in 2011, ran for council last year and lost.

This is Burnham's first run for a seat on the governing body, but she is a frequenter of council meetings and has been active in environmental initiatives and the controversial community garden and Maple Cove preservation issues. Burnham is a former Fair Haven resident.

Lee is seeking a fourth term and Horgan is seeking a third on council. The two got the party nod at the Red Bank Democratic Nominating Convention in March.

"Running again with Councilwoman Horgan reinforces my lifelong commitment to serving Red Bank," Lee said in a released statement. "We are working together with our council colleagues for the betterment of our town."

Horgan complimented her political colleague and called past and present Democratic leadership successful, noting that the "community has recognized our hard work in trying economic times and realizes that Red Bank continues to prosper under Democratic leadership."

The Red Bank governing body operates under a mayor and borough council form of municipal government, referred to as one with a weak mayor and strong council in voting terms. The mayor does not vote, but presides over meetings, has veto power and can only break tie votes.

Council terms with this form of government are three years and the mayor's is four.