Assemblywoman Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood) says she will seek re-election to a second term, but the other 28th district assemblywoman, Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark), would not say last week if she plans to run in 2025.
There are signs that Tucker might be eyeing retirement: She’s 81 years old — the oldest member of the State Assembly — and finished her most recent fundraising quarter with just $488 cash on hand; low bank balances are frequently red flags of a pending retirement announcement.
In a new era of primary elections that are unlikely to include county organization lines and instead move to office block ballots, incumbents in safe districts who once depended on the power of the line and the financial generosity of county chairs to get elected might need to take responsibility for their own campaigns.
Hall, who captured the Essex-based seat in 2023 after Mila Jasey (D-South Orange) retired, didn’t flinch when asked if she was running.
“Yes,” she told the New Globe. “I’ve got a lot of work to do. I’ve worked hard, and I look forward to the future. “
The freshman lawmaker has $12,722 banked, which ranks her third out of five first-term Essex Assemblymembers who are up for re-election next year: Michael Venezia (D-Bloomfield) has $28,632 cash-on-hand, Rosy Bagolie (D-Livingston) has $25,891, Alixon Collazos-Gill (D-Montclair) is at $12,309, and Carmen Morales (D-Belleville) has a di minimis $2,208.
It’s not too early for decision making in the 28th, where the winners will be decided in the Democratic primary. Vote-by-mail ballots for the 2025 primary are just seven months away, and it takes time to fundraise.
Tucker and Hall could wind up on different sides in next year’s governor’s race: Tucker is a close ally of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, and Hall is allied with the Essex County Democratic organization, which is expected to back Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair) for governor.
A third gubernatorial candidate, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, has been recruiting Assembly candidates across the state; he already has the endorsements of two of the five mayors in the 28th: South Orange Village President Sheena Collum and Dahlia Vertreese in Hillside.
Possible candidates include: Newark West Ward Democratic Co-Chairman Chigozie Onyema, a former assistant commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs; Newark school board member Hasani Council, the son of Newark South Ward Democratic Chair and City Councilman Patrick Council; South Orange Councilman Bobby Brown, an attorney who played in the NFL for the Cleveland Browns and Green Bay Packers; and former Maplewood Mayor Frank McGehee.
Newark West Ward Councilman Dupre “DoItAll” Kelly told the New Jersey Globe that he has no plans to run for the Assembly. He’s expected to seek a second term on the council in 2026. Kelly beat Onyema in a 2022 runoff by 546 votes.
McGehee lost an off-the-line Democratic primary against Hall and Tucker in 2023. Running alone after a late start and without much money, he was the top vote-getter in Maplewood and South Orange, but he got crushed in the rest of the district.
Last year, Maplewood (24.7%) and South Orange (13.4%) made up 38% of the votes in the Democratic primary, even though the two towns are 20.3% of the 28th district population. Irvington contributed 18.7% of the votes despite being 26.9% of the population; 9.8% of the voters live in Hillside, which put up 14% of the vote.
Newark continues to punch far below its weight; the city has 43.9% of the district’s population, but with a voter turnout of just 7.6%, it produced just 29.3% of the primary vote—something that presents a more significant issue than an Assembly race.
Tucker was first elected to the Assembly in 2007 to reclaim the seat her late husband, Donald Tucker, held for nearly eight years before dying weeks before his 2005 re-election. Essex County Democrats dropped two incumbents, Craig Stanley (D-Irvington) and Oadline Truitt (D-Newark), from the line and backed Tucker and Essex County Freeholder Ralph Caputo (D-Belleville) instead.
She won that race by 127 votes, but hasn’t had a difficult campaign since then.