Let's start with ... we can report with absolute certainty that the next Mayor of Margate, New Jersey will either be ...

  • Maury Blumberg
  • Catherine Horn
  • Michael Collins

They ran together as a slate and were the three winners in the Tuesday, May 9, 2023 Margate City Commission election.

The election should be certified by tomorrow, Tuesday, May 16, 2023 … which is when your next city commission will be officially sworn in.

In years gone by, it was never a problem to go from one administration to the next in just one week. However, the new vote by mail requirements have compressed this timeframe.

In case you don’t know … you (the voters) did not elect your next Mayor.

You elected three City Commissioners, who will select the Mayor for the next 4 years.

The Column B ticket defeated Calvin Tesler, Aaron Singer, and Patrice “Tish” Calvarese.

Tesler also lost in 2019 to Michael Becker, John Amodeo and Blumberg.

Becker and Amodeo stepped away and decided  it to run for reelection in 2023.

FUN FACT: Collins is Amodeo’s son-in-law.

Blumberg, Horn and Collins overcame a very negative campaign waged against them, which even featured a “masked stranger,” who struck like a bandit on the Saturday before Election Day, (see below).

Harry Hurley, TSM.
Harry Hurley, TSM.
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It’s an open secret all around Margate City. Everyone knows who this “masked stranger” is.

A joke has been spread like wild fire all around Margate City that this will be the preferred costume for Halloween 2023, (see below).

Harry Hurley, TSM.
Harry Hurley, TSM.
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Now, let's look deeper into who will be the next Mayor of Margate City.

First, there’s Maury Blumberg. He’s been a Margate City Commissioner for the past 16 years.

At first glance, you would think … he’s the one with the experience in government versus two new comers (Horn and Collins) to local elective office.

So, it’s only natural that Blumberg would be selected to be the new Mayor of Margate.

Not so fast.

Then, there’s the case for Catherine Horn. She is the President of the Margate City Board of Education.

This is a great proving ground, as school purpose tax is a large percentage of the overall local purpose tax of all municipalities in New Jersey.

So, Horn will be the next Mayor of Margate?

Again, not so fast.

That leaves Collins.

Collins is a successful businessman, who was unafraid to take the Column B message everywhere … including a no limits interview on the “Hurley in the Morning” radio program.

Collins demonstrated poise and competence. Blumberg and Horn were unwilling to do a similar on-air interview.

I don’t hold this against Blumberg and Horn, as tough one-on-one interviews are not for most people.

However, I do give Collins credit. He “took” one for the team. We had never met (and, still haven’t met) and he did not hesitate to do the live, on-air interview … which took place on Wednesday, May 3, 2023.

This was very near Election Day. If anything had gone wrong, Collins would’ve only had less than six days to turn things around.

It was a case of big risk … big reward. Collins came through the interview unscathed … was unflappable and distinguished himself as the best candidate in the election.

I remember saying to Collins during the interview how impressed I was with him. How he handled himself and I predicted on-air that he would be the top vote getter and should be the next Mayor of Margate.

With the final vote tally not yet certified, the last numbers that I saw have Collins and Horn within one vote of each other … with Blumberg about 100 votes behind them. Tesler is about 350 votes behind Blumberg for the third and final City Commission seat.

Finally, although this is a non-partisan form of government … and, Blumberg, Horn and Collins honorably ran that way … it is not lost on me that Horn and Collins are both registered Republicans and  Blumberg is a Democrat.

In the end, two of the same will always beat one of the same.

Hence, the next Mayor of Margate will either be Horn or Collins.

Based on all of the variables and the overall campaign waged … our ”Hurley” political crystal ball clearly sees that the next Mayor of Margate City will be Michael Collins.

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