The race to succeed Janice Mironov as Mercer County Democratic Chair appears to be a proxy fight between Mercer County Executive Dan Benson and outgoing Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing).
Benson is pushing Ewing Councilwoman Jennifer Keyes-Maloney, while Watson Coleman has endorsed James Gee, her longtime chief of staff before he left to open a lobbying firm.
Watson Coleman said that Gee represents a “new vision. Strategic. Respectful of diversity, inclusion, and engagement. He will inspire younger voices to come to the table.”
“Spread the word. Reach out to our committee members who will be asked to vote for a greater vision of the collective work we must do to protect enfranchisement and democracy,” Watson Coleman said in a social media post.
The election is scheduled for June 30.
In 2023, Benson, then an assemblyman from Hamilton, ran for county executive against Watson Coleman’s choice, five-term incumbent Brian Hughes, at the Mercer County Democratic Convention. Benson won that vote, and Hughes dropped out of the race.
Some of the same coalitions from that race still exist, and possibly with some new additions. Nakia White Barr, who ousted incumbent John Cimino in the county commissioner primary on June 2, has endorsed anyone in the county chair contest, but Gee was a supporter of her campaign. Watson Coleman’s hometown, Ewing, is reportedly split.
Gee entered the race on Friday, one day after Mironov, the mayor of East Windsor, announced that she would not seek re-election to a fifth two-year term. InsiderNJ first reported Gee’s candidacy.
He told InsiderNJ that it was time for a non-elected official to serve as county chairman, suggesting that the party needs someone who understands state government.
Keyes-Maloney is also connected to the government sector: she is the executive director of the New Jersey Association of State College and Universities, and a former Assistant State Treasurer during Gov. Phil Murphy’s first term
