Essex County Democrats have endorsed Verona Councilwoman Christine McGrath, Livingston Mayor Shawn Klein, incumbent Wayne Richardson and West Orange Democratic Municipal Chairman Abdur R. Yasin to run for four County Commissioner-At-Large seats in the June 2 primary election.
McGrath, the Verona Democratic municipal chair, was the top vote-getter with 387 votes, followed by Klein, a physician and three-term Livingston councilman, with 355. Richardson received 296 and Yasin, a West Orange fire captain, received 282. Yasin edged out Irvington Councilwoman Charnette Fredric by 30 votes.
Trailing were former Newark Public Schools Advisory Board member Marques Aquil Lewis (180), Bloomfield Democratic municipal vice chairman Corey Anderson (121), former Maplewood Township Committeewoman Deborah Engel (117), former Montclair Mayor Robert Russo (106), former Millburn Mayor Annette Romano (91), and former Livingston Board of Education President Vineeta Khanna (69).
There was no runoff, and the endorsement went to the top four vote-getters.
Three of the four incumbents who hold county commissioner-at-large seats — Patricia Sebold (D-Livingston), Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), and Romaine Sermons (D-Irvington) — are not seeking re-election.
In District 3, Medinah E. Muhammad, an East Orange school board member, easily defeated Orange Democratic Municipal Chair Antoinett Hall, 132-29. The incumbent, Tyshammie Coopoer, is not running again.
The convention winners will run on the Essex Democratic organization slogan and be bracketed together in a primary that no longer offers county lines and preferential ballot positions. They’ll share a slogan with U.S. Senator Cory Booker, Essex County Executive Joe DiVincenzo and Democratic congressional candidates in the 8th, 10th and 11th districts.
The popular DiVincenzo, seeking his seventh four-year term, was unopposed at the convention. Booker defeated a primary challenger, former Readington Democratic municipal vice chairman Chris Fields, in a landslide, 552 to 55, a margin of 91%-9%.
Others can still enter the county commissioner race if they file nominating petitions before Monday’s 4 PM deadline.
The Democratic primary is tantamount to election in Essex County. The last Republican to win an at-large county commissioner race in Essex (then called freeholders) was Gerardo Del Tufo in 1971. Republicans have not yet announced their slate of candidates.
Incumbents A’Dorian Murray-Thomas in District 2, Leonard Luciano in District 4, and Carlos Pomares in District 5 are also unopposed. In District 1, Wilson Pichardo, a senior advisor at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, has no convention opposition for the seat incumbent Robert Merchado is vacating.
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) in the 10th district, Rep. Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City) in the 8th district, and Analilia Mejia, the party’s nominee in the April 16 special election in the 11th district, have no convention opposition.
