OCEANPORT – – Democratic Mayor Lucille Chaump will be challenged by former Oceanport Councilman Michael J. Mahon, a Republican, in the borough’s mayoral race this November.
Four candidates are also vying for two open seats on the Borough Council in the Nov. 6 municipal election.
Chaump, of Tecumseh Avenue, was elected to council in 2004. She was appointed mayor in November 2005, to fill the seat of the late Mayor Maria Gatta until the next general election.
Gatta, a Republican, succumbed to cancer in October 2005, and a Republican council member had to be appointed to fill her seat, according to Borough Clerk Kim Jungfer.
In the November 2006 election, Chaump won the seat to fulfill Gatta’s term, which ends this year, according to Jungfer.
Chaump will be facing off with Mahon, of Doreen Drive, in the election for the four-year mayoral term.
The six-member Borough Council is currently split with four Republican and two Democratic members.
Seeking the two open seats on council on the Democratic side are incumbent Gerald Briscione, of Sagamore Avenue, and newcomer William McVitty, of Eatontown Boulevard. Briscione has been serving on council since 2004.
Republican newcomers seeking the two open seats on council are former council candidate Joseph Irace, of Osprey Lane, and Gerald R. Bertekap, of Horse Neck Point Road.
The council seats open for election are Briscione’s and current Councilman Hugh Sharkey’s seat.
Sharkey was defeated by a margin of over 45 votes in the Republican primary election by write-in candidates Irace and Bertekap.
– Christine Varno