Theodore Narozanick

Former Freehold Councilwoman Barbara McMorrow will become the first Democrat to serve on the Monmouth County Board of Freeholders since 1989 when she replaces 85-year-old Theodore Narozanick in January. McMorrow, who came within 1,792 votes of winning in 2005, defeated Andrew Lucas, a 29-year-old Manalapan Councilman.

That will force Republicans to defend their majority next year, when Freeholders Robert Clifton and Anna Little (who won an unexpired term yesterday) are on the ballot. With an open State Senate seat in the 11th district and a hotly contested legislative race in the 12th -- possibly between Democratic State Senator Ellen Karcher and Republican Assemblywoman Jennifer Beck -- it is nearly certain that Monmouth will be a battleground in the 2007 campaign.

The election of 35-year-old Adam Puharic as the new Monmouth County Republican Chairman is the latest move by the GOP to rebuild a once-powerful county party organization that has been hammered by allegations of widespread corruption on the backs of a new generation of leaders. By the end of this year, the all-Republican five-member Freeholder Board will have had a complete makeover, with aging veterans like Harry Larrison -- a Freeholder for 36 years -- Thomas Powers and Edward Stominski replaced by a much younger group. For the seat of the 87-year-old Theodore Narozanick, an elected official for most of the last sixty years, Republicans have nominated Andrew Lucas, a 28-year-old Manalapan Township Committeeman. The Freeholder Board now includes 37-year-old Robert Clifton and 38-year-old Anna Little.

The same thing has happened with the Monmouth legislative delegation over the last four years. Sean Kean, now 43, won an Assembly seat in 2002 when 84-year-old Thomas Smith died in office. Amy Handlin, 50, beat 79-year-old Joseph Azzolina in the 2005 GOP primary. Jennifer Beck, 38, won a State Assembly seat in 2005, unseating a Democrat who defeated 73-year-old Michael Arnone two years earlier.

State Senator Joseph Palaia has already announced that he will not seek re-election in 2007, when he turns 80.

State Senator Joseph Kyrillos, elected to the State Assembly in 1987 at age 27, has emerged as a sort of elder statesmen among Monmouth Republicans at the relatively young age of 46. Brian Nelson, a 28-year-old lawyer from Middletown who served as Executive Director of the New Jersey Republican State Committee in 2004, has emerged as a key player in Monmouth County politics.

Theodore Narozanick becomes the second octogenarian county official this month to announce his retirement from public office. The 85-year-old Monmouth County Freeholder said yesterday that he would not seek re-election to an eighth term. Narozanick has held public office for nearly fifty years. Republicans expect spirited competition to replace him.

Leonard Inzerillo, who came within 244 votes of upsetting Assemblyman Joseph Azzolina in 2003 but lost a Democratic Assembly primary two years later, says he is giving strong consideration to running for Monmouth County Freeholder in 2006. A former Middletown Board of Education member and firefighter, Inzerillo says he needs support of Congressman Frank Pallone and Democratic County Chairman Victor Scudiery to make the bid. Two Freeholder seats will be contested this year: the seat of seven-term GOP incumbent Theodore Narozanick, and the one soon to be vacated by Assemblywoman Amy Handlin.