Two young candidates seek local office in Democratic primaries

Two young candidates running in the Democratic primary for local office are worth watching on Tuesday:  Max Kravitz, a 20-year-old community activist seeking a seat on the Maplewood Township Committee, and Amanda Baumunk, a 17-year-old high school student who is on the ballot for township committee in Montgomery.

Kravitz faces Jane Collins-Colding, a businesswoman who is the choice of the local Democratic organization for the seat of Deborah Engel, who is not seeking re-election. Collins-Colding grew up in Liberia and Kenya and emigrated to the U.S. at seventeen.  She is the mother of five and has fostered another twenty children.

Already a veteran local volunteer, the Columbia High School Class of 2023 graduate has the endorsement of Engel and former Mayor Frank McGehee.  He also has a political pedigree: his grandfather’s brother was Bertrand Spiotta, who spent twelve years as mayor (then called Village President) of South Orange.

SOMA Action, a grassroots progressive group, has endorsed Steve Fulop for governor and Assemblywoman Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood) and Newark West Ward Democratic Municipal Chairman Chigozie Onyema for State Assembly, but did not endorse any candidates for township committee.

In Montgomery, Baumunk and her running mate, Mazhar Syed, face two organization-endorsed incumbents, Deputy Mayor Vince Barrigan and Township Committeeman Mike Martin.

Baumunk will graduate from high school this month, one year early.  She’s a member of the Central Jersey chapter of Democratic Socialists of America.  She also had a political pedigree: her grandfather spent eight years as the president of the Montgomery Board, and her uncle is a former mayor of East Windsor.  She has the endorsement of two former Montgomery mayors:  Sadaf Jaffer, a former assemblywoman, and Devra Keenan.

Gov. Phil Murphy signed the New Voter Empowerment Act last year, allowing 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections if they turn eighteen before the general election.  The new law becomes effective in June 2026.