Republican state assemblymen Ronald Dancer and Robert Clifton announced that they intend to run for re-election to the state Legislature this year.
Dancer, 59, and Clifton, 46, represent legislative District 12, which encompasses parts of Monmouth, Ocean, Burlington and Middlesex counties.
“I am proud of our work in the Assembly, but there is more to be done,” Dancer said in a Jan. 14 press release.
The two legislators made their announcement with less than two months left before the deadline for partisan candidates to file primary election petitions on March 30.
Members of the state Assembly hold two-year terms.
Dancer has served in the Assembly since 2002. He served as Plumsted’s mayor from 1990 to 2011.
Dancer currently serves as Plumsted’s business administrator, and he sits on the Planning Board and the Plumsted Municipal Utilities Authority.
Prior to his election to the Assembly in 2012, Clifton served as the mayor of Matawan from 1996 to 2005 and as a member of the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders from 2005-11.
The legislators said they plan to run on a fiscally conservative platform, focusing on issues such as property tax relief and encouraging shared services at the municipal and state levels.
“As former mayors, we hold the unique perspective of knowing how, as legislators, we can help our local officials,” Clifton said. “We have done great work with initiatives like the 2 percent property tax cap, but more must, and will be, done.”
District 12 includes Jackson and Plumsted.