The Political Campaign of an Ocean County College Student
By Logan Germano | Published October 28, 2022
A tall adolescent male dressed in a blue suit and red tie greets his neighbors with an important message vital to the upcoming municipal election.
“If you have 30 seconds of your time, I can tell you what I can do for our community,” he said.
Ocean County College sophomore Eric Hess is running for Town Council of the Borough of Pine Beach, at the age of 19 years old.
Pine Beach is a tiny borough in central Ocean County with a population of 2,169, as per the 2022 census. Having grown up in Pine Beach his entire life, he has seen what makes the small town a great place to raise a family, and what changes need to be made to keep the community thriving.
Hess, who has been a Republican voter, is running as an Independent against a strong Republican block of incumbents. His inspiration to run for town council began with his connections to members of the Pine Beach Yacht Club. As he developed close relationships with elected officials who he met at the yacht club, he got an understanding of how the system works and realized he can do it too.
“The members of the yacht club, some of whom are mayors and councilmen, are people who I look up to and are doing what I want to do,” Hess said. “Since I have a high interest in politics, I got to know these people well, and I realized that I am not so far off from politics considering my age.”
In order to run, Hess had to go to the Ocean County Republican Headquarters and inform them about his interest in running for the town council of his municipality. He was then given a nomination petition from the Ocean County clerk.
When he received his petition, he announced that he was running on the independent ticket, and went around Pine Beach to gather signatures from registered voters. Once he got all of the signatures needed, he became nominated for the ballot. Despite leaning more conservative than liberal, he said that his first few signatures came from Democratic voters.
“The idea was not that you agree with me or you think that all of my solutions would work,” Hess said. “It was the question of if you thought I had the right to be democratically elected.”
He started out by going around town and introducing himself at the front door of homes. Eventually, he became the talk of the town which caused his popularity to rise. The campaign slogan he created is “Yes to Hess”.
“They did not think it was real until I showed up at their door,” Hess said.
Hess’s parents, who are apolitical, did not expect his campaign to grow as fast as it did.
“At first they did not think it was a big deal and wished me good luck,” Hess said. “But suddenly, their friends around town started to ask them questions about why I was running. Their only answer was that I was up for the challenge.”
Hess plans to go above and beyond to keep the town in its best shape. One of these plans, which he thinks is a concern that has not been looked into, is to prevent the beach degradation along the Toms River shoreline.
“I live right on the waterfront and I see it slowly slipping away each day,” he said. “It is my main concern in town because I am afraid we will lose our beach if we don’t do something about it.”
He envisions a long-term plan for what he thinks the town will look like in 50 years and believes it is important for today’s youth to get involved in the community and start voting.
“At some point, the youth need to take over Pine Beach because if they keep leaving, there will be a problem down the road,” Hess said. “I have even told kids that if I can run for office, you can do it too. You may not win, but it is still a good thing to get involved in politics early on.”
His campaign is preparing for the big day on Nov. 8 through the use of social media, yard signs, donations, and the overall support from people he encounters each day. Hess loves the enthusiasm and excitement from his neighbors who are eager to see a new, young individual be a part of the Pine Beach Town Council.
“People like the energy that I have,” Hess said.
Hess continues to gain support every day and went as far as campaigning during Hurricane Ian as he approached the front doors of houses wearing rain boots and an umbrella. He expects the election to be close because his opponents are incumbents, and knows there is more work to be done to contest the election with all his support.
“I’m doing much better than when I first started,” Hess said. “Even if I get one more house, one more vote, we’re still growing.”