Auth, Azzariti hold on in tight race for LD39 in Bergen County

Assemblymen Robert Auth (R-Old Tappan) and John Azzariti (R-Saddle River) have won re-election in Bergen County’s 39th legislative district, the New Jersey Globe projects, but Democrats put up a serious fight.

As of 12:24 a.m. and with nearly all votes counted, Auth has 25.9% of the vote and Azzariti has 25.6%; their Democratic foes, former Dumont Mayor Andrew LaBruno and former Woodcliff Lake Councilwoman Donna Abene, have 24.3% and 24.2%, respectively. The gap between Azzariti and LaBruno for second place stands at 2,436 votes.

The fact that the result was close at all is a testament to how well Democrats performed across the board tonight; state Democratic leaders put little time or investment into flipping the suburban district, which has broken their hearts before.

Auth, one of Trenton’s more committed conservatives, has been in the Assembly since 2014, while Azzariti first won his seat in 2023. The two assemblymen – as well as State Sen. Holly Schepisi (R-River Vale), a finalist for Jack Ciattarelli’s lieutenant governor pick this year – have battled amongst each other in the past, but they were able to put on a united front this year.

That wasn’t enough, however, to prevent a primary challenge from Frank Pallotta, a former investment banker and a two-time GOP nominee for New Jersey’s 5th congressional district against Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly). Pallotta seemed like he would put up a real challenge against the incumbent assemblymen, but 39th district voters had other ideas, and Auth and Azzariti won easily.

Far closer was the Democratic primary for the same district, which pitted Abene and former Dumont Councilman Damon Englese on the party ticket against LaBruno and Demarest Councilman David Jiang on gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop’s ticket. LaBruno came in first place, while Abene and Jiang duked it out for second, with Abene winning by just 131 votes.

LaBruno and Abene were willing to join forces from there, but neither raised much money, and the race wasn’t on most radars. Propelled by Mikie Sherrill’s convincing win at the top of the ticket, though, the Democrats ended up coming far closer than expected to winning – closer even than 2017 and 2019, both years when Democrats were seriously invested in flipping the district.