LD28 Republican ends campaign following petition challenge

Toye Kumolu, a first-time candidate seeking the Republican nomination for New Jersey’s deep-blue 28th legislative district, has withdrawn from the race following a successful challenge to his nominating petitions.

Kumolu, a Newark resident, filed to run for Assembly with 260 signatures, just barely above the new 250-signature requirement for state legislative candidates. He filed with the slogan of “Republican for the People” and was set to run against the two candidates backed by the Essex and Union County Republican Parties, Che Colter and Willie Sinai Jetti.

But New Jersey Assembly Republican Victory, the official campaign arm of the Assembly GOP, challenged his petitions, and Administrative Law Judge Margaret Monaco ultimately ruled that at least 11 were invalid, pushing Kumolu below the threshold. One of the signatures was disqualified for an unusual reason: live testimony from the signatory himself, Lev Zilbermints, who said he had never signed any such petition and alleged that his signature had been forged.

The Republican nomination in the 28th district is not much of a prize; it’s the single most Democratic legislative district in the state, and the GOP’s Assembly candidates this year would be lucky to get 10% of the vote combined.

The district’s deep-blue hue makes it much harder for candidates like Kumolu to even get on the ballot in the first place, simply because there aren’t many Republicans around who can sign their petitions. The 250-signature requirement is equivalent to nearly 4%, or one-in-26, of all Republicans in the district.

Democrats have a contested primary for the district: Assemblywoman Cleopatra Tucker (D-Newark) is running for re-election with official party support alongside Newark West Ward Democratic municipal chairman Chigozie Onyema, while Assemblywoman Garnet Hall (D-Maplewood), dropped from the party ticket, is running on a slate with gubernatorial candidate and Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop.