Mercer County Clerk Paula Sollami Covello remains interested in seeking the Democratic nomination for Congress in New Jersey’s 3rd district and will make a decision early next year.
“If there’s a path, I’m interested in pursuing it,” Sollami Covello told the New Jersey Globe.
Two candidates are already in the race for the seat Rep. Andy Kim (D-Moorestown) is giving up to run for the U.S. Senate: Assembly Majority Whip Carol Murphy (D-Mount Laurel) and Assemblyman Herbert Conaway, Jr. (D-Delanco). Both are from Burlington County.
Sollami Covello voiced some frustration with Burlington County Democratic Chairman Joe Andl, who didn’t take her phone calls before announcing his endorsement of Conaway.
“I was upset that I didn’t have the opportunity to speak to the chair,” she said. “I don’t feel that was fair.”
Murphy has also been critical of Andl, accusing him of attempting to “subvert the will of Democrats in Burlington County.”
Five towns in Mercer County – East Windsor, Hamilton, Hightstown, Lawrence, and Robbinsville – made up 31.5% of the Democratic primary vote two years ago. Sollami Covello’s path involves winning Mercer, while Murphy and Conaway split Burlington, where 66.1% of Democrats who voted in the last House primary live.
The remainder of the district comes from ten municipalities in western Monmouth County which make up 12.4% of the Democratic primary vote. State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch), the titular leader of the Monmouth Democrats, has endorsed Conaway.
Her potential viability also depends on whether another candidate emerges from Mercer. Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo (D-Hamilton) is still considering an entrance into the race.
Sollami Covello worked in Gov. Jim Florio’s office as a policy advisor and later as a legal examiner for the New Jersey Department of Education and as Assistant Mercer County Counsel before her election as county clerk in 2005. She defeated Republican incumbent Cathy DiCostanzo by 237 votes out of more than 94,000 cast, 50.1%-49.9%. Since then, Sollami Covello has been re-elected three times by landslide margins.
She is a former president of the Constitutional Officers Association of New Jersey Her late father, Paul Sollami, served seven terms on the Mercer County Board of Freeholders.