Incumbents Kathy Horgan and Cindy Burnham, above, and newcomer Erik Yngstrom, below, will vie for two open council seats in November. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Less than three months into a new Republican era and eight months before the next election, Red Bank’s Democrats have chosen their candidates for council.

Incumbent Kathy Horgan and newcomer Erik Yngstrom, a member of the zoning board, have been nominated to run in the Democratic primary election to be held June 7, party chairman and Councilman Ed Zipprich announced Friday night.

Separately, Republican Councilwoman Cindy Burnham, who broke the Democrats’ seven-year lock on the council with her victory in 2013, told redbankgreen that she will seek re-election.

The election, with a presidential race at the top of the ballot, is the fist since Republican political newcomers Mark Taylor and Mike Whelan won both open seats in last November’s election, giving their party its first majority on the governing body since 1990.

Horgan, seeking her fourth three-year term, is a former zoning board member. In a prepared statement, she said she has “relentlessly pursued efficiency in local government and creative solutions to our town’s fiscal issues. I’m most proud of my work to streamline the Borough’s operations by overhauling our information systems – creating quicker response times and savings for taxpayers.”

Horgan, who’s employed by amfAR, the Foundation for AIDS Research, in New York City, ran for a seat in the state Assembly in 2011, but lost.

Yngstrom, an attorney at the Tashjy Law Firm in Wall Township, is in his second year of a two-year appointment to the zoning board. There, he said, he has “fought hard to maintain the small-town character of Red Bank. If fortunate enough to be elected, I will continue my fight against the overdevelopment of our town as a member of the Borough Council.”

Burnham is a substitute teacher at Red Bank Regional High and landlord.

“Somebody’s got to be the voice of reason for our Red Bank residents and our town,” Burnham said in a text.

Burnham said she doesn’t yet know who might join her on the ticket. GOP Chairman Sean DiSomma told redbankgreen the party expects to have its nominees squared away by a county committee vote by the end of March.