Portman Upsets Ballard In Red Bank Democratic Primary Mayoral Race

1136
As it stands June 8, William Portman will be the Democratic candidate for mayor of Red Bank on the ticket in November, having upset Michael Ballard. Via Facebook

By Sunayana Prabhu

RED BANK – There were fireworks ahead of the Fourth of July as political novice William Portman seems poised to beat Michael Ballard in the race for Democratic mayoral candidate.

As of Wednesday noon, unofficial results from the Monmouth County Clerk with all nine district poll locations reporting show Portman leading Ballard, a second-term councilman, by a large margin, 747 votes to 481. Current Mayor Pasquale Menna did not run in the primary.

Although he believed he had a chance to win, Portman told The Two River Times, “I never in my wildest dreams thought I would win by the margin I won by. Never could have imagined. I think that the voters of Red Bank really made a statement about which direction they want things to go.”

According to the Monmouth County Clerk’s office, mail-in ballots postmarked by June 7 and received by the clerk within six days will be counted, so the results may continue to change. Jennifer Collins, assistant to the clerk, said, as per New Jersey state law, “Ballots may be counted up to 144 hours after the polls close. After all of the mail-in ballots and provisional ballots are counted, official certification of results is June 20th.”

But Portman, with over 60% of the votes compared to Ballard’s 39%, is the de facto winner. Even with mail-in ballots counted, it is unlikely the outcome will change.

Ballard has reserved his comments until the official count and five-term councilman and Red Bank Democratic party chairman Ed Zipprich, a Ballard supporter, made a similar statement to The Two River Times. “We are anticipating that we will react when every vote is counted. I’m hopeful that the democratic process will continue to play out,” he said. Zipprich has often clashed with other members of the all-Democrat council and Ballard’s loss may be seen as an indictment of his leadership.

Democrat councilwoman Angela Mirandi and newcomer John L. Jackson ran unopposed in the race for two open council seats. Mirandi currently holds the seat that became available with Erik Yngstrom’s resignation in January and is up for reelection at the end of this year. In the Republican primary, candidates Jonathan Penney and Christine Stout ran unopposed to fill those two seats.

General elections are scheduled for November and Portman will be up against Republican Brian Irwin who ran unopposed and garnered 303 votes in the Republican primary.

“I’ll be advocating for nonpartisan elections and for changing our form of government,” Portman said about his plans for his campaign in the months leading up to November. “And hopefully, I’ll be ushering in a whole new era for Red Bank.”

This article originally appeared in the June 9 – 15, 2022 print edition of The Two River Times.