Six Mayors to be elected Tuesday

Voters in six New Jersey towns will elect a Mayor in Tuesday's non-partisan municipal elections. The premier race is in Evesham, a swing town of 42,275 people in Burlington County that has become increasingly competitive in recent general elections. While the race is technically non-partisan, both parties have horses in the contest.

Augustus Tamburro, the 69-year-old incumbent seeking re-election to a fifth term, is allied with the Burlington County Republicans. His rival is former Philadelphia Eagles Assistant Coach Randy Brown, 39, a who managed Tamburro's 2003 campaign. Brown is receiving campaign support from South Jersey Democrats, who sense a chance for a sweep of the four Council seats: all three of the Council seats up this year are held by incumbents supported by the local GOP. One Councilmember backed by Democrats are not up this year.

In Cape May County, three candidates are running for Mayor of Sea Isle City (pop. 2,835) -- the first election since voters changed their form of government from a three-member City Commission to a five-member Council with a directly-elected Mayor. In all, 23 candidates are running for local office this year: about one percent of the entire population.

Incumbent Leonard Desiderio, 50, is seeking re-election; he has been Mayor since 1993 and is a Republican Cape May County Freeholder. His two opponents are George "Pat" Haffert, 58, who led the local charter change effort, and former Board of Education President Donald Laricks, 51, who once headed the Cape May County Chamber of Commerce.

Pohatcong Mayor Stephen Babinsky and Avalon Mayor Martin Pagliughi are running unopposd, as are North Bergen Mayor (and State Senator) Nicholas Sacco and West New York Mayor (and Assemblyman) Sal Vega. Sacco and Vega are also candidates for State Senate in the June Democratic primary.