Politics & Government

Longtime Ocean County Sheriff Faces Two Challengers In Bid For Tenth Term

84-year-old William L. Polhemus will run against Democrat Robert Armstrong and independent William McMenamin

Ocean County Sheriff will have to fend off two challengers in the race for the three-year term as the county's top law enforcement official.

Polhemus, 84, received 20,409 votes or 99.4 percent of Republican votes cast in yesterday's primary. There were also 121 write-ins, according to the Ocean County Clerk's Office.

He will go up against Democrat and independent John McMenamin in the November election.

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Armstrong, 68, received 7,655 votes, or 99.6 percent of Democratic votes cast. There were also 24 write-in votes. He has more than 40 years in law enforcement.

He has served as a Special Agent with U.S. Army Intelligence, the FBI and the U.S. Treasury. He retired as a Lt. Colonel with the U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations after 32 years of service. He also served as a state investigator/detective with the New Jersey Division of Criminal Justice and as a special agent with the New Jersey State Commission of Investigation.

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McMenamin, Surf City, is a former Stafford Township mayor. He is running under the slogan "Call of Duty."

Polhemus has served as Ocean County Sheriff since 1986. Prior to that, he was police chief of the Seaside Heights Police Department and served 35 years in the department.

Out of Ocean County's 370,754 total registered voters, 33,685, or 9.09 percent, went to the polls yesterday, according to the clerk's office.

Ocean County has a total of 103,797 registered Republican voters. of that amount, 24,925 or 24 percent voted in Tuesday's primary.

Ocean County has 73,474 registered Democratic voters. Of that amount, 8,760, or 11.92 percent, went to the polls yesterday.


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