Anthony P. Carabelli, a popular Democrat who spent 36 years as a Mercer County freeholder during a magnificent political career than began while John F. Kennedy was president, has died. He was 88.
“Tony Carabelli was a resolute and respected longtime public servant whose contributions to the City of Trenton and to Mercer County were immeasurable,” said Brian Hughes, the Mercer County Executive. “Throughout his career, Tony showed unwavering commitment to the betterment of Mercer County and its residents. Whether it was advocating for improved education, championing economic development, or working to address the various challenges facing our communities, Tony always put the needs of his constituents first. I am proud to have served with him.”
He ran for office for the first time in 1962, at age 26, as a candidate for an East Ward seat on the Trenton City Council. He finished third in a field of eight candidates for an open seat, missing a runoff berth by 32 votes to Lester H. Allen, who had served in Gov Charles Edison’s administration in the early 1940s. A month later, 27-year-old attorney Dan Brenna defeated Allen by a more than 2-1 margin.
(In an at-large race that year, Trenton elected its first Black city councilman, Rev. S. Howard Woodson, who would later become the first Black Speaker of the New Jersey State Assembly.)
Carabelli began a 35-year career at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs in 1967, when Richard J. Hughes was governor.
In 1970, with East Ward Councilman Gerald Naples running for mayor, Carabelli again sought a council seat. In the May non-partisan election, Carabelli led the five-candidate field with 48.6% of the vote. He outpaced Leonard Spoto by over 2,400 votes, but fell 169 votes short of avoiding a runoff.
He won the runoff with 63% of the vote.
Carabelli won a landslide 72% in his 1974 re-election campaign and 80% when he captured a third term in 1978.
In early 1976, after Freeholder Arthur Sypek was elected the first Mercer County Executive, Carabelli sought an appointment to fill the vacancy but lost to Barbara Boggs Sigmund.
When Freeholder Gilbert Lugossy decided to run for an open sheriff seat in 1976, Carabelli again sought a freeholder seat but the Democratic county chairman, Richard Coffee, instead backed Sigmund for a three-year term and James Hedden, a labor leader from Hamilton, for the remaining year of Sypek’s term.
Carabelli ran off-the-line against Hedden and lost by roughly 1,800 votes, 51%-44%.
Mercer County Democrats picked Carabelli to run for an open freeholder seat in 1980 after incumbent Eugene Howard declined to seek re-election. Carabelli beat out Trenton City Council President Eugene Kalinowski and former Councilman John Cipriano in a closed-door vote after threatening to run off-the-line if he didn’t win party support. This time he became Hedden’s running mate.
In the general election, Carabelli and Hedden faced Republicans Christina Wilder and Peter Inverso. Carabelli was the top vote-getter, running roughly 2,500 votes ahead of Inverso, who unseated Hedden by around 1,500. (Inverso later became a freeholder and state senator.)
In 1983, Carabelli teamed up with first-time candidate (and future state senator) Shirley Turner, while Republicans ran Bob Prunetti (a future county executive) and Barbara Marrow. Inverso did not seek re-election.
Voters split their tickets that year, re-electing the Republican county executive, Bill Mathesius, while electing two Democratic freeholders. Carabelli ran about 5,000 votes ahead of Turner, who beat Prunetti by around 1,700.
Inverso returned in 1986 and ran first, leading Carabelli by approximately 850 votes; Turner ran about 1,700 votes behind Carabelli in her unsuccessful re-election bid.
Carabelli won a landslide re-election victory in 1989; he and running mate Joe Yuhas defeated Inverso and another Republican, Richard Van Noy, by a 2-1 margin. That flipped control of the Mercer County freeholder board to a 4-3 majority. They were re-elected in 1993 by a 3-1 margin.
He was easily re-elected in 1994, 1998, 2001, 2004, 2007, 2010 and 2013.
Carabelli retired from his state job in 2000 – a position that prevented him from running for the legislature — and as a freeholder in 2016.
He was a graduate of Georgetown University and received his master’s degree from Rutgers. His son serves as a Hamilton Township councilman.
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