In an upset win for progressives, Former Maplewood Deputy Mayor Deborah Engel secured a Democratic nomination for an at-large Essex County Board of Commissioners seat despite not earning the party’s backing, the New Jersey Globe projects.
Verona Councilwoman Christine McGrath, West Orange Democratic Municipal Chairman Abdur Yasin, Engel, and incumbent Wayne Richardson secured the four at-large nominations for the Board of Commissioners. Livingston Mayor Shawn Klein, who had the backing of the Essex County Democratic Organization, fell short, as did former Newark Public Schools Advisory Board member Marques-Aquil Lewis.
As of 10:17 p.m., McGrath led with 38,543 votes, and Yasin followed with 32,657. Engel has received 31,211, and Richardson holds fourth place with 30,549. Klein trails with 28,773, and Lewis currently sits last with 19,444.
Engel spent little on the race, but grassroots support, similar to the progressive energy that helped Rep. Analilia Mejia cross the finish line in the 11th congressional district, made the difference. Engel had the endorsement of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, as did Lewis. Perhaps more importantly, she had the support of South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum, a progressive powerhouse.
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) — did not seek re-election. Sebold has served for more than 33 years; Gill was first elected in 2011.
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo was unopposed in his bid for a seventh term. He was elected in 2002 after eight years of a Republican county executive. He’d served four terms as a freeholder, and his 36 years in office make him the longest-serving county official in Essex County history.
Twelve candidates faced off for the four at-large seats at a hotly contested Democratic county convention in March.
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 Lewis (180), Bloomfield Democratic municipal vice chairman Corey Anderson (121), Engel (117), former Montclair Mayor Robert Russo (106), former Millburn Mayor Annette Romano (91), and former Livingston Board of Education President Vineeta Khanna (69).
Klein, McGrath, Richardson, and Yasin will face Republicans Demetrius Eley, Daniela Ferriera Almeida, Douglas Freeman, and Sahwa DeFrank in the general election in a county with more than five times as many Democrats as Republicans. The last Republican to win an at-large commissioner (then freeholder) seat was Gerardo Del Tufo in 1971.
None of the five district commissioner candidates had primary opposition: 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. In District 3, Medinah E. Muhammad, an East Orange school board member, won an uncontested primary for the seat Tyshammie Cooper is vacating.
Republicans have not held a district seat since 2006, when Democrat Linda Lordi Cavanaugh ousted Republican incumbent Muriel Shore. Since 1978, when Essex adopted a new form of government, Democrats have never fallen below a 7-2 majority.
DiVincenzo faces Republican Maritza Matthews in the fall; GOP stalwart Adam Kraemer faces Luciano, and Republican Frank Contella is taking on Pomares, the board president.
Announcing his re-election bid earlier this year, DiVincenzo cited significant improvements to the county’s bond rating, cost-cutting measures, and improved county parks and recreational facilities as the hallmarks of his 24 years in office.
When DiVincenzo first took office in January 2003, he inherited a $64 million budget deficit, and Moody’s was on the verge of downgrading the county to junk-bond status. Essex’s general obligation bonds are now rated at Aa1 by Moody’s and AA+ by Fitch.
DiVincenzo, a former Barringer High School quarterback and college football player, worked as a public school teacher and athletics director, and recreation and parks supervisor before making his first bid for public office as a candidate for Essex County Freeholder in 1990. He was appointed to fill a vacancy in May 1990 after Carmine Casciano resigned to become Superintendent of Elections and Commissioner of Registration.
In his first general election, DiVincenzo was the top vote-getter for one of the four at-large freeholder seats. He was easily re-elected in 1993, 1996, and 1999. Republicans have not won a countywide race in Essex since 1998, when James W. Treffinger defeated former Newark Mayor Kenneth Gibson in a bid for a second term as county executive.
Following Treffinger’s arrest in 2002, DiVincenzo defeated Thomas P. Giblin in the 2002 Democratic primary by a 61%-39% margin and then flipped the county executive post in the general against Republican Candy Straight. In 2018, he beat his own record with 81% of the vote and a plurality of 152,699 votes.
Since Essex switched to the county executive form of government in 1978, only DiVincenzo has won the post more than twice. He has won landslide re-election campaigns: 76% in 2006, 75% in 2010, 77% in 2014, 81% in 2018, and 80.5% in 2022.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, DiVincenzo led a countywide effort to expand access to vaccinations, testing, and direct assistance for residents impacted by the crisis. The county established large-scale vaccination and testing sites in central locations and deployed mobile clinics to schools, community centers, houses of worship, and retail centers.