Election profile: 30th Legislative District
New Jersey’s 30th Legislative District changed slightly after last year’s redistricting. It covers Lakewood in Ocean County and Avon-by-the-Sea, Belmar, Farmingdale, Howell, Lake Como and Wall in Monmouth County.
The district has been a Republican stronghold since the early 1990s. About 39% of the district’s registered voters are Republicans, 19% are Democrats and most of the rest are unaffiliated.
All three Republican lawmakers are seeking reelection. Sen. Robert Singer, who has held his seat for 30 years, served in the Assembly, and is a former mayor of Lakewood is running for another term. He faces Democratic candidate Stephen Dobbins, a young Democrat from Howell Township who ran unsuccessfully two years ago.
The Assembly incumbents are Sean Kean, an attorney in Matawan who took office in 2012 after redistricting the previous year moved him out of the district where he had been the senator, and Edward Thomson, a pension actuary and former mayor of Wall. They face two Lakewood Democrats: Salvatore Frascino, a retired Jersey City police detective, and Alexander “Avi” Schnall of Lakewood.
Editor’s note: All candidates for state legislative seats were contacted multiple times for the NJ Decides 2023 voting guide Q&As. Click on a candidate to see who responded and any answers provided. More information about the project, including the full text of the questions, is available here.
The candidates
SENATE
The candidate did not respond to the questionnaire.
The candidate did not respond to the questionnaire.
ASSEMBLY
The candidate did not respond to the questionnaire.
Age: 64 Hometown: Lakewood Occupation: School resource officer Personal background: 42 years in law enforcement (Jersey City PD-DEA T/F- Manalapan PD Class lll SLEO) – Education is mostly in law enforcement – Grew up in Jersey City and spent most of my professional career in Law Enforcement. My early years in the workforce were spent in the shipyards in Hoboken (Bethlehem Steel Shipyards) from 1977 to 1981 full time, from 1981 to 1986 shape work. Political background: Committee man in my district and I ran for sheriff in the last election cycle. Why are you running for office? To continue to serve my community. Key election issue: Taxes, homeowners association issues for the elderly, public safety Issues. Redirecting of funds into programs and projects that assist the elderly in the simple tasks of affordability Example of a successful project: Most if not all are law enforcement tasks, projects and assignments geared to make the lives of those innocent victims more meaningful and rewarding Example of a challenge faced: Changing the minds of those who are easily distracted and influenced by inaccurate information and fake news On NJ’s gun laws: I will not back down from making our gun laws work for us and not the bad guys. Tough laws exist in New Jersey that don’t allow for the simple purchase of any gun by anyone. This needs to be adopted by the rest of the country so bad guys have no access to guns On the Murphy administration’s climate change proposals: I absolutely support Murphy’s proposals. However, a sincere study needs to be conducted regarding the untimely deaths of our sea life, such as whales and dolphins. A serious deep dive is required without question. On housing affordability and property taxes: By addressing the issues related to New Jersey’s present responsibility of paying for other states in a disproportionate way. We need to pay for our own citizens’ hardships in New Jersey and lesser responsibilities to states, like Kentucky and states in that category of poverty. We have our own priority issues to address and this is a start in that direction. Final thoughts: New Jersey is the size of a postal stamp in comparison to most of America and we have almost 9 million residents paying taxes either through the normal path of taxation or the simple act of purchasing goods and services. How is this even possible that we can’t take 100% better care of our own citizens?
The candidate did not respond to the questionnaire.
The candidate did not respond to the questionnaire.