Maplewood committeeman, former mayor looking at run for Sherrill’s seat

The field of Democrats planning to run for Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair)’s House seat if she wins the governor’s office continues to grow, with Maplewood Township Committeeman and former Mayor Dean Dafis likely to enter the still-hypothetical special election, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.

Dafis, like many ambitious Democrats in Sherrill’s 11th congressional district, wouldn’t launch a campaign until after Sherrill wins on November 4 – and won’t run at all if the congresswoman loses to Republican Jack Ciattarelli and seeks re-election to her House seat.

Dafis was first elected to the Maplewood Township Committee in deeply progressive Maplewood in 2017, and has won re-election twice since then; he ran unopposed in all three Democratic primaries, the real contest in the deeply progressive suburb just outside of Newark. Maplewood rotates the position of mayor among its township committeemembers, and in 2022, Dafis was elevated to a two-year term as mayor.

If elected to the House, he would be New Jersey’s first-ever openly gay member of Congress, and would in fact be one of the first LGBT nominees either party has ever put forward for a New Jersey congressional seat.

Dafis, like most Democrats in suburban Essex County, was an early supporter of Sherrill’s gubernatorial campaign this year, but he also has a more anti-establishment progressive streak. In 2021, shortly before Maplewood moved from the 10th congressional district into the 11th, he was one of the only major figures to endorse renegade challenger Imani Oakley against then-10th district Rep. Donald Payne Jr. (D-Newark).

Ever since Sherrill became the Democratic gubernatorial nominee in June, 11th district Democrats have been stuck in limbo, eager to run to succeed Sherrill but largely unwilling to commit to anything until they know there will actually be a special election to run in.

Two notable Democrats, Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel and former Obama administration official Cammie Croft, decided to launch campaigns anyways and have already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars, though both say they’d have no intention of running against Sherrill if she loses. (Another less well-known Democrat, Anna Lee Williams, is also in the race.)

But expect the field to grow quickly should Sherrill win the governor’s office on November 4. If Governor-elect Sherrill were to resign from Congress soon after winning, a special Democratic primary could be held as early as late January or early February, giving prospective candidates precious little time to build up campaigns.

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), and Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett (D-Wayne) are all likely to run, and South Orange Mayor Sheena Collum, Biden administration official Jack Miller, and Assemblywoman Rosy Bagolie (D-Livingston) are potential entrants to the field as well; Dafis, too, is now added to that list.

One Republican, Randolph Mayor Joe Hathaway, has launched an 11th district campaign, though he faces an uphill battle in a district Kamala Harris won by nine percentage points last year.