BY WALTER ELLIOTT
NEWARK – If one feels like the runup to June 10’s major party primary elections feels both long and short – you would be right.
Registered voters of the Democratic or Republican party faithful are to choose their standard bearer for governor towards Nov. 4’s General Election. Voters of any party or independently will then choose who will succeed the term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy (D-Rumson) and Lieutenant Gov. Tahesha Way.
There are 10 candidates on the ballot – six Democrats and four Republicans – who are looking to become the next governor. Some names are more familiar than others.
Some are current or former mayors, current Congress members, current or former labor union leaders, a contractor, a 2021 General Election candidate, a medical publisher and a radio show host – some of which overlap. Some of the candidates have been campaigning for the last two years.
One candidate – Steven Fulop – has gone as far as naming South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum as his lieutenant governor and fielding five candidates in the 28th and 34th Legislative Districts for General Assembly and two in Bloomfield’s Township Council primary under his “Democrats for Change.”
Primaries are opportunities for party members to decide whether their leadership should stay or change course. Some primary elections, given lopsided proportions of registered voters in one or another jurisdiction, are tantamount to being the unofficial general election.
Herewith is a brief outline of candidates looking for party voters’ endorsement as provided on ballots supplied by the Essex County Clerk’s Office – Election Division and Board of Elections.
Please note that this party primary ballot is formatted by elected office and not by New Jersey’s once traditional county or party line.
GOVERNOR (In Alphabetical Order)
Seeking Democratic voters’ endorsement are:
- Ras J. Baraka, Newark, Reimagine NJ
- Steven Fulop, Jersey City, Democrats for Change
- Josh Gottheimer, Wyckoff, Democrats of Essex County
- Mikie Sherrill, Montclair, Essex County Democratic Committee
- Sean Spiller, Montclair, Essex County Democrats Protecting our Democracy.
- Steve Sweeney, West Deptford, Regular Democratic Organization.
Seeking Republican voters’ endorsement are:
- Justin Barbera, Vincentown, Enough is Enough Uncompromised.
- Jon Bramnick, Westfield, Essex County First Republican.
- Jack Ciattarelli, Endorsed by Essex County Republican Party.
- Bill Spadea, Somerville, Common Sense Republican
GENERAL ASSEMBLY
28th Legislative District (LD)
The Democratic primary has former Newark council candidate Chigozie Onyema and incumbent Newarker Cleopatra Tucker running on the ECDC ticket. Incumbent Assemblywoman Garnett Hall, of Maplewood, is under the Democrats for Change banner. The Essex County Republican Party did not enter a candidate.
In the all-Newark 29th LD there are two candidates in each party running for the two district assembly seats. All are endorsed by the ECDC or the ECRP.
The Democratic incumbents are Elana Pintor-Marin and Shanique Speight. Their likely Republican challengers are Noble D. Milton and Daniela Ferreira Almeida.
34th LD
In the Democratic primary, Carmen T. Morales, Belleville, and Michael Venezia, of Bloomfield are the ECDC-supported incumbents.
Challenging them are Brittany Claybrooks, East Orange and Frank Velez, Belleville, as Democrats for Change.
The Essex County Republican Party’s balloted candidates are Demetrius Eley, East Orange, and Lorenzo Marchese, Jr., Nutley.
There are no primary contests on the ballot for the 27th LD.
COUNTY CLERK
Incumbent Democrat Christopher J. Durkin, of West Caldwell, has ECDC endorsement. Maritza Mathews, of Newark, is the Essex County Republican Party candidate.
MUNICIPAL RACES
In EAST ORANGE, there is a primary contest on the ballot for mayor while the five ward council incumbents are running on the ballot unopposed.
Third term incumbent Mayor Theodore “Ted” Green, Team Green leader and ECDC-backed, is squaring off against Narda Morant under Empowering the People You Deserve Better.
Council President Christopher D. James and fellow incumbents Christopher Awe, Bergson Leneus, Tameika Garrett-Ward and Alicia Holman are running unopposed for this year’s First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Ward seats. All are running on The Green Team and with ECDC support.
In MAPLEWOOD, ECDC runner Jane Collins-Colding and Maxwell Jacob Kravitz, of Building an New Progressive Future Together, are vying for the one open Township Committee.
Both are seeking to succeed outgoing incumbent Deborah Engle, who declined re-election. The township’s Republican committee did not field a candidate.
BLOOMFIELD’s primary, unless one wants to write in a Republican candidate, is a choice among incumbent candidates for mayor and township council. Incumbent Mayor Jenny Mundell is running on the ballot unopposed with ECDC support.
There are five candidates contending for the three at-large Township Council seats.
Incumbent Monican Charris Tabares and first-time runners Jill Fischman and Widney Polynice are on Mundell and ECDC tickets. Challenging them are Satenik Margaryan and Tracy Toler-Phillips under “Democrats for Change.”
Rosalee Gonzalez, ECDC, and Stefanie Santiago, Democrats for Change, are jousting for the unexpired First Ward Council seat – which Mundell vacated for Mayor last year.
The Bloomfield Republican Committee did not file petitions for mayor or council.
GLEN RIDGE’s ballot for two Borough Council seats have no candidates’ petitions filed. Registered voters will wait until Nov. 4 to vote in, for them, a nonpartisan General Election.
There are no municipal level party primaries in Montclair, Nutley, Orange, South Orange or West Orange – all of whom hold nonpartisan elections in other years.
Voting prior to June 10 is going on now by mail or in person. Each of Essex County’s 22 municipalities have their Vote By Mail Ballot Drop Boxes open until 8 p.m. that Tuesday.
Designated early voting polling stations are open now through Saturday 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. and Sunday through 6 p.m. Those stations will close on June 9 for recalibration for June 10. See essexclerk.com for your nearest of the 10 early voting polling station locations – including ones in Bloomfield, East Orange, Irvington, Newark and West Orange.
One can declare one’s allegiance or identification to one or the other party in person June 10 – provided that one has been unaffiliated prior to the declaration. The prospective registered voter is otherwise out of luck since the April 16 party declaration deadline, 55 days before the primary, has passed.
The request for a VBMB by mail deadline, June 3, has also passed. One may obtain that type of ballot in person at the County Clerk’s Election Division window at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Building, 495 MLK Blvd, Newark, before 4 p.m. June 9.
Questions and details should be forwarded to essexclerk.com.
