06/02/2026
Three Slates. Three Visions. One Holmdel.
For a town of our size, we've managed to accomplish something rather remarkable.
We've taken one Republican primary and turned it into three separate campaigns, three separate teams, three separate messages, and three separate claims to represent the future of Holmdel.
On one side Joe Romano for Holmdel Township Committee stands the incumbent, speaking about schools, courtesy busing, development, power poles, and the everyday issues that residents discuss at kitchen tables and soccer fields.
On another stands Gary Vanderham & Thomas "TJ" Mann for Holmdel Township Committee the county-backed establishment, armed with campaign infrastructure, endorsements, fundraising networks, and the confidence that comes from years of political experience.
And on yet another, Holmdel First stands a group of local Republicans who believe the system itself has become disconnected from the people it serves and who argue that Holmdel needs less politics and more results.
Each side insists it is the reasonable one.
Each side believes it is protecting the town.
Each side is convinced the others simply don't understand.
And therein lies the problem.
What began as a disagreement over priorities has slowly become a disagreement over identity. The question is no longer merely what should be done. The question has become who gets to speak for Holmdel.
Is it the incumbent?
The county organization?
The grassroots activists?
The answer, of course, is that none of them own the town.
Holmdel belongs to the residents who pay the taxes, raise the families, volunteer in the schools, coach the teams, support local businesses, and expect their elected officials to solve problems rather than create new ones.
The most curious part of this entire contest is that all three factions claim to be reformers.
One says it is delivering results.
One says it brings experience.
One says it offers change.
Yet all three are asking the same voters for the same trust.
Perhaps that is why so many residents feel exhausted by the process.
Not because people care too much, but because everyone seems to be fighting over who should lead while fewer people are talking about where we are going.
The cartoon says it best:
Three Slates. Three Visions. One Holmdel.
The election will eventually end.
The signs will come down.
The mailers will stop arriving.
The social media arguments will fade.
But Holmdel will remain.
And when it does, we would all do well to remember that our neighbors are not the opposition, our town is not a prize to be won, and no slate—however convinced of its own righteousness—speaks for all of us.
We are, whether we like it or not, still one town.
