The Republican Party in Maplewood is alive and well, fielding a young, new candidate this year for the seat on the Maplewood Township Committee being vacated by Marlon K. Brownlee.
Michael Summersgill, an eight-year resident of Maplewood who has lived in New Jersey his whole life, is running for Maplewood Township Committee as a Republican.
Summersgill serves on the Pool Advisory Committee and, according to a release from the Maplewood Republican Committee, supports the South Mountain YMCA, Maplewood Kiwanis and Columbia High School Cougar Boosters.
Summersgill has an Engineering Degree from Cornell University and works as Vice President of Client Services at Williams Lea, a global business process outsourcing company, where he leads a 700-person services organization with $50 million in revenue, according to the release.
“When Mike reached out to the Republican Committee to express his interest and we reviewed his impressive qualifications, we were excited to have a new voice with his outstanding qualifications to represent us as a candidate for the Township Committee,” said longtime Maplewood Republican leader Mary Devon O’Brien.
The release sent by O’Brien added, “Mike is running as a candidate for the Maplewood Township Committee to add a diverse voice to the Township Committee discussion and to fill the current gap in Operational Experience on the Township Committee. Mike brings an extraordinary set of qualifications as a candidate.”
In addition, Summersgill’s work “experience includes facilities, procurement, and vendor management, as well as contracts, customer service, and process optimization.” Summersgill “has also managed union labor and collective bargaining agreements.”
“Many organizations have benefited from his support and interest, and we hope that the citizens of Maplewood will be able to benefit from his extensive experience as a member of the Maplewood Township Committee,” said O’Brien.
After an uncontested primary in June, Summersgill should meet Maplewood Democrat Frank McGehee in the general election in November. McGehee received the nomination from the Maplewood Democratic Committee in March.
With Democratic voter registration exceeding Republican registration and with Maplewood’s recent history of voting Democrat, Summersgill has an uphill climb ahead of him. No Republican has served on the Township Committee since the 1990s and the five current members of the Township Committee are all Democrats.
