Hammonton Republicans unveil 2025 ticket – Furgione to run for mayor
HAMMONTON—On January 16, Assemblyman Michael Torrissi Jr. announced his bid for re-election from his hometown of Hammonton. That evening’s announcement was part of the Regular Republican Club reorganization meeting where the 2025 ticket for council was announced.
The party announced their candidate for mayor and two of the three candidates for council seats. Current town councilman Steven Furgione was announced as the Regular Republican candidate for mayor, Anthony Marino announced his bid for re-election to a council seat, and Ray Scipione removed his hat from the mayor’s race to campaign for a council seat.
All four seasoned elected officials aim to build a strong ticket in November. All four expressed their focus on advancing the quality of life and values of the residents of Hammonton.
For Torrissi, the sphere of influence and responsibility is much broader. But his commitment to his hometown of Hammonton remains a foundational component to his reasoning and focus of a re-election campaign.
“Hammonton is known as a farming community, a more rural community, a conservative community and we’re not going to stand for what we saw in this last presidential election where things got a little too far left. It’s crazy. We’ve got to get ourselves back to the middle.
What it should be about is our families, our checkbooks, our safety and security. We need to stick to the core values what it means to be a good American citizen and who wants to do right for their families, for their country, and for the state,” Torrissi said.
Torrissi has been proud to work for the people. He is equally confident that the people of New Jersey and especially South Jersey will continue the conservative swing seen in the recent presidential election.
“Serving the people of the 8th Legislative District has been one of the honors of my life for the past three years. I intend to keep the train rolling for my third term and beat back the Democrats once again who have tried to buy this seat for years by pumping in millions of dollars. We’re going to win not only in the 8th district but we’re going to flip the governor seat as well,” Torrissi said.
The race inside the borders of Hammonton is taking shape as well. Furgione has stepped away from the Hammonton First ticket and is running for mayor under the Regular Republican ticket. Furgione just secured his council seat in the 2024 election and will now face long-time Deputy Mayor and Hammonton First mayoral candidate Thomas Gribbin in the 2025 campaign for mayor.
Furgione explained his reason for running for mayor including his years of experience and the timing with family.
“I just started my seventh term. I’ve served 12 full years on council. My daughter’s going into college next year. My son’s going to be a sophomore. So, I don’t get to coach him like I did. I’ll never miss an event of theirs, but I don’t have to be there every day with coaching. I think I have a lot to contribute. I’m a pretty level-headed guy. I have a good understanding of how the town runs, and I thought, well, it’s time for me to give it a shot,” Furgione said.
Furgione spoke about why he would be running as a Regular Republican candidate in 2025.
“I always run with who I find works best with me. I ran with Sam Rodio and [James] Matro this year. It was Sam [Rodio] and Billy Olivo before that,” Furgione said. “For me, at the end of the day, it’s Hammonton. This isn’t a state government. This isn’t the federal government. It’s Hammonton. Republicans, Democrats, Independents, it doesn’t matter.”
Furgione admits he is not a typical politician. His hands-on approach to working does not necessarily compliment campaigning.
“I’m not a big-time campaigner. I’m not a big-time speech guy. I’ll do it. It’s just not my area of expertise,” Furgione said. “However, you want me to formulate an agenda? You want me to move the town forward? I can. My plan is that I study. I’m prepared. Then I work the plan. That’s how I do it.”
Focus is a key component for any mayor. Furgione spoke about the direction he would target first.
“So, obviously, coming from the utility side of things, infrastructure is huge. It’s going to be a huge undertaking for the next year and beyond. It’s an ongoing issue,” Furgione said. “Public safety is number one. We must make sure our police are properly staffed. We need to make sure our fire department is staffed. After that would be fiscal responsibility. Making sure we’re a fiscally responsible town. It’s public safety one, fiscal responsibility two, and then all these infrastructure projects.”
What was shaping up as a three-person race for mayor also changed Thursday night as Ray Scipione pulled out of the mayor race in order to vie for a council seat. He explained his choice to The Gazette in a telephone interview January 20.
Scipione said it was clear that a three-way race for mayor would be a challenge for any of the three candidates to win. After talks with his team, Torrissi and the party, he felt this ticket provided the strongest possibilities for everyone involved to best serve Hammonton.
“This way everything I wanted to accomplish as mayor, I still could do as a councilman. The unity this brings to the party, our priorities and the town as a whole is more important than who sits in which seat. Whether it would have been as mayor or as a councilman, I remain committed to stopping the increase in crime plaguing our town. From car thefts and break-ins to home invasions, I will ensure the police officers get what they need,” Scipione said.
Scipione went on to say he has spoken with several officers and is developing ways to increase manpower, retention packages and various incentives to not only recruit officers to town but keep the ones currently in the department.
At the Republican meeting, incumbent councilman Anthony Marino also confirmed his candidacy for re-election. Marino spoke about making a tough decision considering a great deal of obligations both personal and professional.
“It was a very tough decision because I have a lot of ironing in the fire. Council’s a lot more involved than it was back, say, 20 years ago,” Marino said. “But I’m committed to working with whoever is on council in making improvements to the town. That’s really the reason why I decided to run for another term. There’s so many different things that need to be done. I’ve kept most of my campaign promises from two years ago and I’m proud of what I’ve done and I’m looking forward to the opportunity to continue working for the people of Hammonton again.”
Marino’s focus for the coming term would include developing the economy and opening opportunities for employment. In doing so he feels it will improve the quality of life for residents and ease tax burdens.
“We need an active roads program targeting roads in the worst conditions. I also want to see us find a location for a second industrial park and an aggressive plan to bring more business to the town so we can keep the tax rates stable,” Marino said. “I believe we can do that. We have a lot of dedicated people on different boards in the town now and they have their heart in the right place. They want what’s best for Hammonton as I do, and I intend to continue to do the best I can for the people of Hammonton.”
The Republican party is expected to announce a third council candidate as early as this month to compete for the third and final seat up for grabs in the 2025 town council election in November.
Comments