Former Dumont Mayor Andrew LaBruno and Demarest Councilman David Jiang will seek the Democratic nomination for State Assembly in the 39th district on a slate allied with Jersey City Mayor and gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop.
The two become the first Democrats to enter the race in a Republican-leaning Bergen County-based legislative district that has not elected a Democrat since 1977 but is viewed as potentially competitive.
The incumbents, Robert Auth (R-Old Tappan) and John Azzariti (R-Saddle River), face three challengers in the Republican primary.
LaBruno and Jiang are the latest additions to Fulop’s Bergen ticket, which includes three candidates for county commissioner and, so far, legislative candidates in the 37th, 38th, and 40th districts.
In the 18th district, David Tingle, an Edison police lieutenant and U.S. Air Force veteran, will challenge Assemblymen Rob Karabinchak (D-Edison) and Sterley Stanley (D-East Brunswick) in the Democratic primary. This is the district Fulop grew up in.
“We are running a campaign that is not beholden to the political machine, and Andrew and David are great examples of having already been able to shake up the status quo. That is what this campaign is about,” Fulop stated. “We’re focused on the people of New Jersey, not the politics, which is why we continue to support candidates who are advocates and community leaders across the state.”
A Jersey City police sergeant, LaBruno is a former president of the Jersey City Police Superior Officers Association. He was elected to the Dumont Borough Council in 2018 and mayor in 2019; he did not seek re-election last year.
Jiang, who emigrated from China at a young age, defeated two incumbents, including former Bergen County Freeholder James Carroll, by a nearly 3-1 margin in the 2022 Democratic primary to capture a Demarest council seat.
Donald Trump carried the 39th district by 3,008 votes and two percentage points against Kamala Harris in 2022; in the 2021 governor’s race, Republican Jack Ciattarelli won the 39th by 6,127 votes and seven points against incumbent Phil Murphy. The district has 315 more registered Democrats than Republicans.
In 2023, State Sen. Holly Shepisi (R-River Vale) was re-elected by 6,184 votes; Auth won by 4,878 and Azzariti by 3,294.
Along with Fulop, LaBruno and Jiang will run with three county commissioner candidates: former Palisades Park Mayor Chris Chung, former Closter Councilwoman Dolores Witko, and John Vitale, a restaurant owner from Park Ridge who ran for State Assembly in the 39th district last year. They could face three incumbents who have not yet announced if they will seek re-election: Mary Amoroso (D-Mahwah), Germaine Ortiz (D-Emerson), and Thomas Sullivan (D-Montville).
In the Bergen-based 37th district, Tamar Warburg, a Teaneck Democratic leader and general counsel of the Jewish Community Foundation of MetroWest NJ, and Tenafly Councilman Dan Park will take on Assemblywomen Shama Haider (D-Tenafly) and Ellen Park (D-Englewood Cliffs). He is also backing former Woodland Park Councilman Ron Arnau in the 40th district, which includes part of Bergen County.
South Hackensack Zoning Board member Donald Bonamo will challenge incumbents Lisa Swain (D-Fair Lawn) and Christopher Tully (D-Bergenfield) in the 38th district Democratic primary. Former Woodland Park Councilman Ron Arnau will run in the 40th district, which includes part of Bergen County; he is the first Democrat to join the race to take on Republican Assemblymen Chris DePhillips (R-Wyckoff) and Al Barlas (R-Cedar Grove).
Tingle has been an Edison police officer for 22 years and is a watch commander of the patrol division. He returned to active military service after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He’s the commander of the American Legion Post 435. Tingle ran for the Edison Board of Education in 2021 and lost by four percentage points.
Fulop has recruited 27 Assembly candidates from across the state so far.
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