Jackson Mayor Michael Reina reelected in tight race

JACKSON - Mayor Michael Reina is headed to his fourth full term in charge of the fourth-largest town in Ocean County, winning his closest bid for election in years on Tuesday night.

According to unofficial results from the Ocean County Clerk's Office, Reina won the support of 53% of Jackson voters in his knock-down, drag-out campaign against Council President Martin Flemming III, who painted the mayor as being at odds with the Township Council and culpable for housing developments throughout the town. He had about 47% of the votes, according to the clerk's office.

In Reina's three previous mayoral races, he won by no less than 11 percentage points.

Reina ran on a ticket with council candidates Jennifer Kuhn and Scott Sargent, a school board member, who appears to have ousted Councilman Andy Kern, elected to the dais in 2018, and Councilwoman Samara Porter-O'Neill, appointed only a few months ago.

Reina, 64, has served as mayor of Jackson since 2008 and works as the bridge supervisor for Ocean County. Flemming, 64, has served on the Township Council since 2017 and is a longtime Planning Board member. He owns County Line Hardware, a small business that's been open in town for decades.

More:Jackson election pits mayor against council members

Jackson elections are nonpartisan, but slates often become the de facto candidates for local Democrats or Republicans, with endorsements by the local clubs. This year, both slates are Republican backed.

The Jackson Republican Club's screening committee recommended endorsing the Flemming-Kern-O'Neill ticket, but members voted the motion down. Many instead called for a Reina-Kuhn-Sargent endorsement, but the club's bylaws don't allow such a motion to come from the floor.

As a result, there was no official endorsement by the Republican club.

Both Reina and Flemming spent much of their time on the campaign trail discussing strategies to control development in this once-rural town where, in recent years, massive warehouses are under construction and some of the biggest housing developments the town has seen in decades have won approval − sometimes after lengthy and costly court battles.

The two candidates both threw their weight behind leveraging the township's increased open space fund − taxpayers voted in 2020 to increase the municipal open space tax − to purchase properties otherwise slated for development.

Flemming said his ticket broke away from Reina due to soured relationships, accusing the mayor of boxing out council members who didn't agree with him from council meetings and other important municipal discussions.

Reina replied that he only excluded council members from meetings they weren't supposed to attend, such as negotiating lawsuits that specifically named Reina as a defendant.

Mike Davis has spent the last decade covering New Jersey local news, marijuana legalization, transportation and a little bit of everything else. He's won a couple of awards that make his parents very proud. Contact him at mdavis@gannettnj.com or @byMikeDavis on Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: NJ election results: Jackson Mayor Michael Reina reelected