Good morning, New Jersey. It’s Election Day, again, this time in part of Essex County, where Democratic county committee members in the 28th district will pick a new state senator to replace Ronald Rice.
Rice, 76, voluntarily walked away from the Senate seat he’s held since 1986 as he deals with some personal health issues. He’s the longest-serving Black legislator is state history.
His likely replacement is Irvington Council President Renee Burgess, 51, who has spent the last 19 years in public office as a school board member and councilwoman. So far, no other candidate has announced their candidacy.
Democrats must hold two separate elections – one to elect an interim senator, and another as their nominee for a November 8 special election to fill the remainder of Rice’s term, which expires in January 2024.
Rice wants Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark) to succeed him, and for former CWA Local 1039 President Lionel Leach, an Irvington resident, to get the Assembly seat. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has weighed in on Tucker’s behalf.
But with the polls opening in just twelve hours, Tucker has still not announced if she is running or not. She said two weeks ago that she was waiting to be asked, but that never happened. At age 79, few Democrats believed her launching a career in the State Senate was a good idea.
Since the 28th district senator has been from Newark since 1979, Baraka maintains that the state’s largest city shouldn’t cede a second Senate seat. Tucker has a weak claim to that argument, since she initially ran for the legislature in 2005 on a slate with an Irvington Democrat, Freeholder Bilal Beasley, who was challenging Rice in the Democratic primary.
Newark makes up just 40% of the district and Essex County Democratic Chairman LeRoy Jones has gone in a different direction, forging a coalition between Irvington and Bloomfield in support of Burgess.
Even if Tucker or another candidate out of Newark ran, the tally is still in favor of Burgess, who would become the first-ever senator from Irvington.
At this point, Tucker could be risking her own Assembly seat next year if she makes a last-minute, ill-fated Assembly bid Democrats appear set on running Tucker and Assemblywoman Mila Jasey (D-South Orange), who was redistricted into the 28th, on their ticket in 2023.
There have been some threats of a primary next year with a Newark-based Senate candidate. But that comes at a tremendous risk to Baraka among home county Democrats as he mulls a bid for governor in 2025.
The new 28th district drops Bloomfield, Nutley and Glen Ridge and adds Maplewood, South Orange, along with Hillside in Union County. Newark’s percentage of the district increases from 40% to 43%.
Democrats need 139 of the 278 filled county committee members to show up at the 6 PM special election convention at Bloomfield College to have a quorum.
Newark has 108 seat: 56 in the West Ward, 46 in South Ward, six in the North Ward and two in the Central Ward. Not all of Newark is with Rice and Baraka; Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, Assembly Budget Chair Eliana Pintor-Marin and Assemblywoman Shanique Speight, all Newark Democrats from the neighboring 29th district, are backing Burgess. So are North Ward Councilman Anibal Ramos, Jr. and two at-large councilmen, Luis Quintana and Carlos Gonzalez.
Irvington as 60 votes and Bloomfield has 67. Both municipalities are all-in for Burgess. Nutley has 27 votes and Glen Ridge has 14.
The deadline to fill vacant county committee seats was September 2.