Warren County remains one of New Jersey’s most reliably Republican strongholds, where GOP dominance is so entrenched that most county and local races this year—including a seat on the Board of County Commissioners—are uncontested. In the contested ones, the GOP is being challenged by independents. In the rural skylands county, Republican victories are largely a foregone conclusion long before Election Day.
Multiple political lifetimes ago, Warren County was once a Democratic beacon.
The county voted Democratic in every gubernatorial election from 1949 through 1977, except one. Even in 1969, Warren was the only county to vote for former Gov. Robert Meyner’s comeback bid against Gov. William Cahill. (Meyner had been a state senator from Phillipsburg, and his wife was a two-term Democratic congresswoman.) Beginning in the 1980s, with Gov. Tom Kean, the county shifted strongly into the Republican column—especially in 1989, when favorite son Jim Courter defeated Gov. Jim Florio in Warren County, even as Florio trounced him statewide by more than 20 points. That cemented a shift that gradually trickled down to county and local races.
Republicans are unopposed in Allamuchy, Blairstown, Franklin, Frelinghuysen, Hackettstown, Hardwick, Harmony, Hope, Independence, Knowlton, Liberty, Lopatcong, Mansfield, Oxford, Washington Township, and White. There is no municipal race in Phillipsburg this year.
U.S. Senate
Former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy’s third-place finish in the U.S. Senate GOP primary, behind former News 12 New Jersey reporter Alex Zdan and State Trooper Richard Tabor, is unlikely to hinder his chances of carrying Warren County against Booker. Booker lost Warren County by 30 points in his 2013 special election to former Bogota mayor Steve Lonegan, by 24 points to Jeff Bell in 2014, and by 16 points to pharmaceutical executive Rik Mehta in 2020.
The problem for Murphy is that Warren County alone does not have enough votes to offset Democratic margins elsewhere. Donald Trump won Warren County by almost 21 points, but his raw vote total was not much different than Kamala Harris’s combined votes in Maplewood and Montclair.
7th Congressional District.
The 7th District includes all of Warren County, and Republican Congressman Tom Kean, Jr. (R-Westfield) is running for a third term. He will need a strong showing in Warren County to offset Democratic votes in the Union and Somerset portions of the district. Kean carried Warren County by 20 points in 2024 and 24 points in 2022.
Warren County usually competes with the Sussex County portion of the district for the title of the most Republican area. In the contest between Kean and former U.S. Navy helicopter pilot Rebecca Bennett, Kean’s task is to maximize his margin; Bennett’s is to minimize it. Kean is all but assured of carrying Warren County this year. Still, the question is whether it will be enough to offset losses elsewhere in a closely watched election that could determine which party controls Congress next year—and whether the absence of many competitive local races will keep Republicans at home.
County Commissioner
Warren County Commissioner Lori Ciesla is unopposed in her bid for a third term this year. This year, she is board director – her second stint. She served as Lopatcong Council President before her election to county office in 2020.
The last Democrat to win a commissioner—then freeholder—seat was James DeBosh in 1999. Back in 1920, when Republicans swept 59 of 60 Assembly seats, the lone Democrat was Harry Runyon.
Alpha
Republican Councilman Robert Melick and Justin Jewell are running for two open council seats being vacated by retiring Republican incumbents. Jewell is running for the seat currently held by retiring incumbent Louis Cartabona. Alpha’s six-member council is controlled exclusively by Republicans.
Jewell is a former councilman in Washington Borough, serving from 2010 until 2013, when he moved out of the municipality. Both have no Democratic opposition but are being challenged by independent former Councilman Thomas Seiss. Seiss served as council president a quarter century ago and was on the council as recently as 2017.
Alpha is very red, much like the county as a whole. Donald Trump carried Alpha by 17 points in 2024.
Belvidere
Belvidere is rock-solid Republican at the top of the ticket, voting for Donald Trump by more than 22 points in 2024, which makes the upset victory of Democrat John Johnson in 2025 all the more striking. Johnson is the only Democrat to serve on Belvidere’s six-member council.
Incumbent Republican Councilwoman Tammy Koop is running for re-election alongside former Councilman Glen Matlock, who is seeking to return to the council after retiring in 2025. He is running to fill the seat of retiring Councilman Joseph Roth.
Challenging them is independent Patrick O’Connor, who serves on the Belvidere Environmental Commission.
Greenwich
Incumbent Republican Council members Brian Baylor and Bill Canyuck are running for re-election to another three-year term.
Greenwich leans Republican and, as a result, has no Democratic opposition in November. Donald Trump carried Greenwich by more than 11 points in 2024.
The pair is being challenged by independent Andrew Lyszyk, a former Woodbridge Township police officer.
Hardwick
Republican Cynthia Keimel is running for the seat on the three-member Township Committee currently held by retiring Republican John Lovell. Keimel is currently serving on the Hardwick Land Use Board.
Keimel is only being challenged by independent George Michael Fee, a State-Approved Consulting Forester who served on the Agricultural Advisory Board in 2021. Fee’s Grandfather was a member of the Hardwick Township Committee, the Hardwick Township Building Inspector, and served on the Hardwick Township Planning Board.
Hardwick is a strongly Republican town. Donald Trump carried Hardwick by more than 30 points in 2024.
Washington Borough
Washington Borough’s four Republican council incumbents split into two separate slates during the primary season, with the slate led by county party-backed incumbents Jerry Brown and Sherri Musick emerging on top. Their running mates, newcomers firefighter and EMT Robert Mitchell and Betti Singh, an employment counselor at the New Jersey Department of Labor, rounded out the victors.
The Republicans face a challenge from Democrats: former Deputy Mayor Ethel Conroy; Jessica Lyons, a member of the Washington Borough Parent Teacher Organization; Josephine Noone, secretary of the Warren County Environmental Advisory Board; and Sonia Rom, a senior manager of advocacy and outreach at DASACC of Warren County. Conroy and Noone previously served on the council.
Washington Borough is red-leaning: Donald Trump carried the borough by 10 points in 2024.
