Egan, Danielsen to seek re-election in 17th district

Assemblymen Kevin Egan (D-New Brunswick) and Joe Danielsen (D-Franklin) will seek re-election next year, setting up another competitive Democratic primary in the 17th legislative district.

“Yes,” Egan said when asked whether he plans to seek another term.

“I do,” Danielsen said.

The two incumbents faced a serious primary challenge last year from Loretta Rivers, a Piscataway Board of Education member who ran on Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s Democrats for Change slate.

Egan led the three-way contest with 11,428 votes. Danielsen received 10,564, while Rivers finished with 10,101 — coming within 463 votes of defeating Danielsen for the second Democratic nomination.

Egan and Danielsen collectively spent more than $400,000 on the primary. Rivers reported raising $5,994 and spending $4,296. She also received $2,955 from Fulop’s gubernatorial campaign.

Rivers won the Middlesex County portion of the district by 390 votes, while Danielsen carried Somerset County by 853 votes. She won Piscataway, North Brunswick, and South Bound Brook, and came within 40 votes of carrying New Brunswick.

In June 2026, an insurgent candidate for Piscataway council toppled a veteran incumbent, and an incumbent councilman in New Brunswick nearly lost his primary.

Egan, a two-term assemblyman, was first elected in 2023 after his father, longtime Assemblyman Joe Egan, retired following 22 years in the Legislature. The younger Egan had previously succeeded his father on the New Brunswick City Council in 2010.

Danielsen joined the Assembly in 2014 after winning a special Democratic convention to succeed former Assemblyman Upendra Chivukula (D-Franklin).

Rivers has not ruled out another campaign.  She told the New Jersey Globe last spring that she was strongly considering a 2027 rematch with Danielsen and expected to decide by the end of September.

Asked Tuesday whether she had decided, Rivers said, “I have not currently made a decision if I will be running.”

A Danielsen-Rivers rematch would likely attract attention from progressive groups seeking a larger foothold in the Legislature.

The 17th district, which includes portions of Middlesex and Somerset counties, has not elected a Republican to the Legislature since the current district map was created in 1973.

The district has also grown increasingly diverse, with roughly three-quarters of its residents being people of color.  Despite that shift, its legislative delegation remains entirely white men: Egan and Danielsen in the Assembly and state Sen. Bob Smith (D-Piscataway).

Smith has not decided whether he will seek reelection, saying he expects to decide by Thanksgiving.