Democrats back Mayer for Gloucester Township mayor
PolitickerNJ.com
January 23, 2009

Former Assemblyman David Mayer won the endorsement of the Gloucester Township Democrats to be their candidate for Mayor against Republican incumbent Cindy Rau-Hatton.

Mayer, 41, was elected to the State Assembly in 2001 and re-elected in 2003 and 2005. He did not seek re-election to a fourth term in 2007. A former Chief of Staff to the Camden County Clerk and District Director for U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, Mayer served as a Gloucester Township Councilman in 2002 and 2003.

Incumbent Councilmen Daniel Hutchison and Frank Schmidt will run on the Democratic ticket. A third candidate has not yet been selected. Hutchison was elected on a ticket with Rau-Hatton two years ago.

Rau-Hatton was elected in 2006, winning a May non-partisan election. Voters subsequently approved a referendum that made Gloucester Township municipal elections partisan, so the mayoral post is now up in November 2009, instead of May 2010.

Rau-Hatton is the highest-ranking Republican elected official in Camden County. Gloucester Township, with a population of 64,300, is the 18th largest municipality in the state. Of the state's 25 biggest towns, only seven have Republican mayors: Toms River, Hamilton, Clifton, Brick, Middletown, Gloucester Township, and Franklin. The mayor of Franklin, Brian Levine, is mulling a bid for the 2009 Republican nomination for Governor.

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