One day after Richard Codey unexpectedly announced his retirement from the New Jersey State Senate, the race for the Democratic nomination appears to be a two-way contest between Assemblyman John McKeon and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill.
But in a truncated election that must be held by August 31, no one has formally entered the race, and each has a plausible path to winning the Senate seat. No date has been set for the vote of roughly 356 Democratic county committee members from Montclair, West Orange, Livingston, Millburn, and Roseland in Essex County and Clifton in Passaic County.
The 27th district is safely Democratic; two years ago, Gov. Phil Murphy carried the six towns with 68% of the vote. The Republican candidate, Michael Byrne, won the primary as a write-in candidate.
Both prospective candidates are already on the ballot this fall – McKeon for a twelfth term in the State Assembly, and Gill for a fifth term as a county commissioner. Part of the process, which must be completed by the end of the month, would also include the selection of their successor. If McKeon wins, Democrats must also pick a new Assembly candidate; if Gill wins, Essex Democrats will need to name a new candidate for his at-large county committee seat.
Codey, the Governor of New Jersey from 2004 to 2006, is walking away from the legislature after a 50-year career; he was elected to the Assembly in 1973 and to the Senate in 1981. After legislative redistricting placed Codey and State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Montclair) into the same district, the two faced off in a Democratic primary which Codey won with 57% of the vote.
The sudden retirement wipes out a combined 80 years of service in the New Jersey Legislature; Gill was elected to the Assembly in 1993 and to the Senate in 2021.
McKeon, 65, has held public office for the last 31 years. He was elected to the West Orange Township Council in 1992 and became mayor in 1998. A former aide to Rep. Joseph Minish (D-West Orange) and Codey, McKeon was elected to the Assembly in 2001 and re-elected ten times.
The Senate seat has long been in McKeon’s sights, beginning with Codey’s assent to the governorship in 2004; had Codey run in 2005 and won, McKeon would have succeeded him in the upper house. Sometimes frustrated by the longevity of Codey’s career, McKeon spent months toying with the idea of running this year.
The 48-year-old Gill started out on a similar path as McKeon, working for Democratic Reps. Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) and Steven Rothman (D-Englewood), and then as U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg’s state director. Gill is the Montclair Democratic municipal chairman and was elected Essex County freeholder in 2011. He was Gov. Phil Murphy’s campaign manager in 2017 — and as a young operative, worked on McKeon’s campaign for mayor.