Vincent Kearney, a two-term councilman from Garwood and a Union County Sheriff’s officer, has emerged as a candidate for State Assembly in the politically competitive 21st district.
Kearney is expected to run with Andrew Macurdy, a former federal and state prosecutor, against two Republican assemblywomen, Nancy Muñoz (R-Summit) and Michele Matsikoudis (R-New Providence).
On Friday evening, Morris County Democrats endorsed Macurdy and Kearney for the Assembly at their convention.
“The Democratic Party needs leadership to meet this moment — which many—but not all—of our folks in Congress are doing — and we need party unity. Or democracy will die. Because the other guys? They’re all on the same page, and that page ends America as we know it,” Kearney said. “So let’s get it together, and not fight just to fight, but fight to win. And we do that by fighting MAGA. Not each other.”
Kearney is a graduate of the John H. Stamler Police Academy and worked as a 9-1-1 dispatcher and emergency medical technician before joining the sheriff’s department.
In 2020, he defeated Republican Jesse Wilson, who posted derogatory statements about Blacks, gays, and women on Facebook.
The 21st district, which includes parts of Union, Somerset, Morris, and Middlesex counties, has been on the Democratic target list on and off since 2017. Still, Republicans have prevailed in the last four elections, sometimes by narrow margins.
In 2024, Kamala Harris carried the 21st over Donald Trump by more than 17,000 votes and about fourteen percentage points – roughly three points less than Joe Biden in 2020, putting Muñoz and Matsikoudis in a potentially tough race next year.
Unless State Sen. Jon Bramnick (R-Westfield) wins the Republican gubernatorial nomination, this will be the first time he’s not on the ballot with Muñoz, an assemblywoman since 2009.
If Kearney wins, he will become the first assemblyman from Garwood since Democrat John J. McCarthy, a former mayor and councilman, won an upset victory in the 1973 Watergate landslide. McCarthy dropped his re-election bid for health reasons in August 1975 and Republicans flipped the two Assembly seats back.
Union County Democrats will endorse candidates at their screening committee meeting on Wednesday.