TOMS RIVER, NJ – If you look at the political blogs and news of conservative media, parental rights issues are all the rage, and demeaning school teachers and the NJEA seemed to be the message of the day for many Republicans statewide.
Except in Ocean County, New Jersey’s most red county, two of the state’s largest Republican strongholds elected school teachers to be their next mayor: one, a Democrat, another a Republican.
While the GOP at the state level waged war against the NJEA and New Jersey’s public education system, Mayor Lisa Crate (Brick Township) and Mayor-Elect Dan Rodrick (Toms River). Both are among the largest towns in New Jersey and both have a strong Republican majority of voters.
While Crate and Rodrick condemned the notion of blocking parents from being notified of important issues of their child, neither made it a cornerstone of their campaign. Instead, each focused on local issues important to the daily life of all residents in their town.
Both are members of the NJEA, and both agreed with parental rights, but instead of hitching their campaign wagon on the topic, they dug deeper. They exposed the inherent flaws of their opponents and laid out clear and concise plans for their respective town’s futures.
Many state candidates who became one-topic ended up losing Tuesday night on Election Day. While voters are concerned about school issues, Crate and Rodrick realized early on it wasn’t the only thing voters were worried about, especially in Ocean County, where a large portion of the population lives in senior and age-restricted communities.
In a year when opposing the NJEA was touted as a key election issue, it didn’t seem to be such a big deal in Republican-strong Ocean County.
