Five gubernatorial candidates compete at first-in-the-state Democratic convention

Hunterdon County Democrats will hold their first-in-the-state convention on Sunday afternoon with five of the six gubernatorial candidates seeking an endorsement that comes with a slogan but no organization line in what is essentially a straw poll.

Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, Rep. Josh Gottheimer, Rep. Mikie Sherrill, New Jersey Education Association President and former Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, and former Senate President Steve Sweeney are competing, but Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop is not.

It takes 50% plus one of the votes to win the convention, but there will be just one ballot: the top two candidates, regardless of their percentage, will move on to a second ballot runoff.  Worth watching: who do the bottom three candidates shift their votes to?

Former Rep. Tom Malinowski, the Democratic county chairman, has not taken sides in Hunterdon.  On Thursday, he joined a Facebook Live meet-and-greet with Sherrill hosted by her congressional office.  Malinowski has hosted all candidates, including Fulop, except for Spiller, who never asked.

Five years ago today, Hunterdon held the first-in-the-state Democratic convention with a large field of presidential candidates.

On the first ballot, Elizabeth Warren led Michael Bloomberg, 37-33, followed by Amy Klobuchar (23), Pete Buttigieg (20), Joe Biden (19) and Bernie Sanders (19).  Andrew Yang (2) and Deval Patrick (0) failed to get enough votes to make it to the next ballot.  Tom Steyer, Tulsi Gabbard, and Michael Bennet did not have enough support to be nominated.

In the second round of voting, Bloomberg led Warren by one vote, 40-39, followed by Amy Klobuchar (22), Pete Buttigieg (19), Bernie Sanders (17) and Joe Biden (12).

Warren edged out Bloomberg on the third ballot by four votes, 74-70, a 51%-49% win.