No Changes in Primary Elections

There are no surprises for Middletown this primary election day.

No additional write-in or independent candidates have been added to the run for Township Committee. Within the each political party running its endorsed candidates, the primary race remains uncontested.

There was no competition within party organizations.

The terms that are up are those of Republican Mayor Tony Fiore, who is at the end of his first term on the committee and Deputy Mayor Pamela Brightbill, who is nearing the end of her second term, or six years.

Fiore is 34 years old and lives on Brasch Boulevard in the township.

With Brightbill choosing to bow out of the race this year, Fiore has previously announced that he will run on the Republican ticket with newcomer Stephanie Murray, of 15 Wallace Rd.

A 10-year township resident, she has never run for a seat on the committee. However, she is a township Zoning Board member and Housing Authority commissioner.

Murray has also served as a member of the Township’s Parks and Recreation Advisory and Open Space committees.

The Democratic challengers, who are uncontested within their party for the primary, are Alex DeSevo, of 1044 West Front St., in the River Plaza section of the township, and James Grenafege, of 25 Red Coach Lane, in the Locust section of the township.

DeSevo has run for office several times and has never won a seat on the township governing body. Most recently, he ran in 2003.

Raised in the township, he is a personal injury attorney with Levinson Axelrod, a law firm that has an office in the Belford section of the township.

Grenafege is a native of Long Island, NY, and has lived in Middletown for more than 10 years. He is a “career consultant, human resources manager, and educator in the areas of: career transition management, employee relations and staffing, labor relations, management development and training, and public education,” according to his online biographical literature.