Assemblywomen Rosy Bagolie (D-Livingston) and Alixon Collazos-Gill (D-Montclair) have won re-election in the 27th legislative district, the New Jersey Globe projects, keeping Mikie Sherrill’s seat in Democratic hands.
As of 11:59 p.m. and with nearly every vote counted, Bagolie and Collazos-Gill have a combined 70% of the vote, while Republican talent consultant Robert Iommazzo and perennial candidate Adam Kraemer have 30%.
Bagolie and Collazos-Gill both won their seats in 2023 in an election that remains one of the most absurd in New Jersey history. (Read more about it here.) That same election cycle also brought an end to the political career of State Sen./former Gov. Richard Codey (D-Roseland), who had served in the legislature for more than 50 years, and at last allowed John McKeon (D-West Orange) to ascend to the Senate.
This year, the two assemblywomen faced a pair of less well-known challengers: tech executive Rohit Dave, who ran with gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop, and teacher Blake Michael, who ran alone. The race drew much less attention than other primaries around the state, and Collazos-Gill and Bagolie ended up with a combined 66% of the vote.
That assured them of re-election, since Republicans aren’t much of a factor in a district that includes both Montclair and West Orange.
If Sherrill wins tonight’s race for governor, which appears likely, things could change fast. Collazos-Gill’s husband, Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair), is likely to run for Sherrill’s House seat, and Bagolie may do so as well; McKeon, meanwhile, could be in the running to be Sherrill’s attorney general, which would open up his Senate seat.