A dozen candidates are seeking the endorsement of Essex County Democrats to run for four at-large County Commissioner seats, including incumbent Wayne Richardson.
Three at-large county commissioners – Patricia Sebold (D-Livingston), Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), and Romaine Sermons (D-Irvington) – are not seeking re-election.
Livingston Mayor Shawn Klein, Verona Councilwoman Christine McGrath, Irvington Councilwoman Charnette Fredric, Montclair Mayor Renee Baskerville, former Montclair Mayor Robert Russo, West Orange Democratic Municipal Chairman Abdur R. Yasin, former Newark Public Schools Advisory Board member Marques-Aquil Lewis, former Millburn Mayor Annette Romano, former Livingston school board member Vineeta Khanna, former Maplewood Township Committeewoman Deb Engel, and Corey Anderson, the Bloomfield Democratic Municipal Vice Chairman, filed letters of intent to seek party support at the March 21 convention in advance of today’s 5 PM deadline.
Popular Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo has no opposition for a party endorsement in his bid for a seventh term.
Richardson, a Laborers’ union official from Newark, is seeking his fifth term as county commissioner. He must compete for party support at the convention and in the primary.
In District 1, which includes Newark’s North and East Ward and parts of the West, Central and South Wards, Wilson Pichardo appears to be the party organization choice to replace outgoing County Commissioner Robert Mercado. Nobody filed to run against him at the convention. An engineer, Pichardo is a senior advisor at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority.
The District 3 race features a contest between Medinah E. Muhammad, an East Orange school board member, and Orange Democratic Municipal Chair Antoinett Hall. The incumbent, Tyshammie Cooper, is not seeking re-election to the seat she’s held since 2018.
Muhammad served as an aide to Gov. Phil Murphy and as chief of staff to then-Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake. She has held posts at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and the Department of Transportation, and served as chair of the East Orange Parking Authority.
Hall filed yesterday as a candidate for the Orange Council, and it’s not immediately clear which office she will ultimately choose to seek.
District 3 includes East Orange, Orange, South Orange, and part of Newark’s West Ward.
Three incumbent Essex County Commissioners will run unopposed at the Democratic convention: A’Dorian Murray-Thomas in District 2, Leonard Luciano in District 4, and Carlos Pomares in District 5. Pomares is the current board president.
Republicans have not won an at-large seat since 1971, but held freeholder seats in Districts 4 and 5 until losing them in 2005.
