Five running in Northfield
SOMERS POINT — Two incumbents are facing challenges for their seats on City Council when the public casts ballots before or on Election Day, set for Nov. 4.
Longtime Ward I representative Sean McGuigan is facing former candidate Levi Fox, while Ward II veteran Mike Owen is competing with former candidate Morgan Slaughter.
McGuigan is seeking his seventh consecutive term after first being elected in 2007. The 62-year-old last ran for re-election in 2022, defeating challenger Dan Meyers.
The construction manager/estimator moved to Somers Point in 1989 from Upper Darby, Pa., after attending Penn State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering. He married his wife, Teresa, in 1990 and they have three children.
Fox, 44, a college history professor and small-business owner who serves on a couple of boards in the city, ran unsuccessfully for the at-large seat in 2020, narrowly losing to Republican Joseph McCarrie, 2,739 to 2,693.
He has strong connections to Somers Point, growing up on Delaware Avenue. His mother, Mary Fondi, was a kindergarten teacher in town and his stepfather, Gregg Clayton, served on City Council.
Fox, who married Sabrina Torres in 2021, started full-time at Immaculata University in 2022 after working as an adjunct professor at Stockton, Temple and Monmouth universities. In addition, he runs a small business, having founded Jersey Shore Tours in 2016.
Owen, 58, was elected unopposed in 2019 and defeated former longtime councilman Carl D’Adamo in 2022. He is seeking his third term.
Owen works as an environmental engineering technician for Handex at the federal superfund site known as Price’s Pit in Pleasantville.
He and his wife of 33 years, Darleen, have two daughters, both graduates of Mainland Regional High School. He grew up in Linwood, attended Seaview Elementary School and graduated from MRHS in 1986. After earning a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Widener University, he got married and moved to Somers Point in 1992.
Slaughter, 45, is a military veteran and lifelong resident of the city, where her parents are longtime residents as well. Her stepfather, John DiMaria, served as mayor for four years and on City Council.
Slaughter attended Northwest Florida State College, where she earned an associate degree while actively serving in the U.S. Air Force. After leaving the USAF, she earned a nursing degree from Atlantic Cape Community College.
She spent two years in the emergency room at Cape Regional Medical Center and more than 10 years with AtlantiCare, where she was on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic. Slaughter currently serves as the nurse case manager of the intensive cardiac rehabilitation program.
In addition, she is living kidney donor as of May 10, 2023.
Five seek three seats on
Northfield City Council
Five are seeking three seats in Northfield, where longtime councilman at-large Greg Dewees of Banning Avenue is facing a challenge from Stephany Mazzone of Ridgewood Drive.
Renee Carfagno of Fifield Avenue is facing a challenge from Dolphin Avenue resident Joan Carfagno in Ward I.
Cindy Kern of Dahlia Avenue is running unopposed for the Ward II seat.
– By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff