Morris Democrats endorse Bennett for NJ-7 in tight vote

Rebecca Bennett finished county convention season with a win in Morris County, narrowly defeating fellow 7th district candidate Michael Roth for the Morris Democratic endorsement.

In the first round of ranked-choice voting, which opened following yesterday’s county convention and closed earlier today, Bennett received 42 votes to Roth’s 38; trailing behind them were Brian Varela with 31, Megan O’Rourke with 11, Tina Shah with six, and Beth Adubato with 0. After the four lower-performing candidates were eliminated, Bennett emerged with a 65-59 vote win, 52% to 48%.

Bennett now has the endorsement of four of the 7th district’s six county parties, collectively representing more than four-fifths of the primary vote. While those endorsements aren’t the end-all-be-all in a post-county line world, Bennett has also raised the most money of anyone in the race, and is beginning the two-and-a-half-month sprint to the June 2 primary as the frontrunner.

Roth’s close second-place finish is a solid sign for his campaign, which has staked its path to victory on a largely grassroots approach. The outcome is more dispiriting, however, for Varela, who is the only one of the six candidates to hail from Morris County and who may have once been the favorite to get the county party’s backing.

The Morris Democratic screening committee, consisting of Morris Democratic Chair Darcy Draeger and six other local Democratic leaders, had previously given top marks to Bennett after a series of interviews and questionnaires; Shah was the second-strongest contender in their estimation, and Roth came in third.

Varela and O’Rourke split the two party endorsements that Bennett didn’t get – Sussex went for Varela, Warren for O’Rourke – but those two counties only make up a small share of the district’s Democratic electorate. A majority of the district’s residents live in Union, Somerset, or Hunterdon Counties, all of which previously endorsed Bennett.

Morris Democrats also endorsed Senator Cory Booker for re-election over primary challenger Chris Fields, 85% to 15%. Analilia Mejia, the Democratic nominee in next month’s special election, won party support for a full term uncontested; also uncontested was Morristown Councilman Chris Russo, the party’s choice for county commissioner.

“Our members heard from an exceptional field [yesterday],” Morris Democratic Chair Darcy Draeger said in a statement. “With ranked choice voting, our endorsements reflect not just enthusiasm, but consensus. We are united, we are energized, and we are proud to endorse Chris Russo, Rebecca Bennett, Analilia Mejia, and Cory Booker.”