LONGPORT – The” We Love Longport” team of candidates is running unopposed in the Nov. 5 Board of Commissioners election.
The team, comprised of incumbent Commissioner Dan Lawler, along with newcomer Patrick Armstrong, and former candidate Jim Ulmer, will not face competition in their bid to represent the borough on the governing body for the next four years.
Both Mayor Nicholas Russo and Commissioner Jim Leeds Sr., who also served alongside Lawler for the last 16 years, decided to retire from public service.
Seven other people picked up petition packets but no one else filed to run by the time petitions were due to the Borough Clerk at 4 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 22.
Ulmer, who has raised his family in Longport, said the team would continue with its plans to get out the vote and hear from residents about their concerns.
He said he is running to give back to the community he loves and navigate the borough toward the future.
Ulmer is making his second bid to be on the board. He ran against Russo, Leeds and Lawler in the 2020 election on the “Leadership for Change” slate with Bob English and Fran Caufield. He works in the pharmaceutical sales and marketing industry, is a member of the Planning and Zoning Board, and is a member of Sustainable Longport, the borough’s green team.
Armstrong, who currently serves as Deputy Fire Chief in Margate, is a volunteer of the Longport Fire Department, who has a deep history as captain of the Longport Beach Patrol where his two sons still work to keep bathers safe.
Armstrong said he will work to keep taxes in check and preserve local traditions that make Absecon Island’s southernmost community the “pearl” of the island.
Lawler is running for his fifth term on the board. The longtime incumbent currently serves as Commissioner of Public Safety overseeing the Police Department and Beach Patrol. He is also the mayor’s representative on the Planning and Zoning Board.
The top vote getter in the 2020 election, Lawler is a senior sales representative with Penn Jersey Paper and Equipment Company and has served on all three committees of the board. He is hoping to be a guide for his fellow commissioners because he has experience serving as chairman of all three committees.
As the elder statesman on the board, Lawler said he wants to complete some unfinished business, such as infrastructure improvements like replacing bulkheads, paving roads and tackling flooding issues.
He said even though the team is unopposed, it would continue its campaign. The candidates are planning to hold a meet and greet at Catch restaurant in late September so residents can learn more about them and hear their plans for the future.
“When Jim and Pat stepped forward to say they would run with me, I knew we had a strong ticket,” he said. “Maybe that’s why no one else stepped forward to challenge us. Our team is excited and energetic.”
The next big decision the team will have to make is which one of them will become the borough’s next mayor. Longport has a commission form of government where the three commissioners vote at their reorganization meeting for the person to serve as mayor for a four-year term of office.
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