If and when Belmar Mayor Matt Doherty resigns to take a position as the new head of the Motor Vehicle

Commission, Council President Brian P. MaGovern will become Belmar’s new mayor.

Poised to run with the advantage of incumbency, Democrat MaGovern is expected to get a challenge next year for the job from Councilman Mark Walsifer.

A retired local Police Sergeant and popular, Republican Walsifer is said to be in a good position to challenge MaGovern.

“You’d have to consider Mark the frontrunner,” a source close to Belmar politics told InsiderNJ, noting the ex-cop’s street-level goodwill in his seaside hometown.

“But it will be a tough election – one to watch,” the source added.