Assemblywoman Marisa Sweeney (D-Morristown), the upset winner of a reliably Republican seat in the 25th legislative district last year, is seriously considering challenging Senate Minority Leader Anthony Bucco (R-Boonton) in 2027, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
This could set up one of the cycle’s best races: an epic battle between a veteran Republican incumbent and a freshman assemblywoman more than two decades younger in a district that has become truly competitive.
Over the next two months, Sweeney, 41, is expected to decide whether to take on Bucco or seek to retain the Assembly seat she won last year. Bucco, 64, has said he plans to run again.
The freshman lawmaker is viewed as the top choice among Democrats, but if she opts to remain in the lower house, her party is still expected to make a play for Bucco’s seat.
Sweeney’s victory was largely unanticipated in 2025. She ran on a primary slate with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, but Morris County Democrats, largely supportive of Sweeney, and her running mate, Morristown Councilman Steve Plypchuck, decided not to challenge them for the nomination.
She turned out to be a strong candidate and was the top vote-getter in the Assembly race with 49,918 votes – 830 ahead of Republican Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-Mendham) – and 1,793 votes in front of the other GOP incumbent, Assemblyman Christian Barranco (R-Jefferson).
Last year, Democrat Mikie Sherrill carried the 25th by five points; in 2021, Republican Jack Ciattarelli won by more than eight points. Donald Trump took the district by about half a percent in 2024, a margin of 647 votes; Joe Biden won the 25th by six points in 2020.
One thing Democrats will watch is the effect of the midterm elections on the Morris County district – specifically the performance of Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-Glen Ridge) and Rebecca Bennett in the 25th district towns of their congressional districts, along with the county commissioner race and key municipal contests.
Mejia’s opponent, Randolph Councilman Joe Hathaway, is widely expected to seek the Republican nomination for Assembly in 2027 if he loses his congressional bid. Anthony Somma, a Morris County Housing Authority commissioner, is already in the race.
But Bucco is not an easy out.
When he ran in a 2020 special election for the unexpired term of his late father, he received 67,142 votes – the most ever received by a State Senate candidate under the current 40-district legislative map, and won by eight points; the following year, he defeated former Morris Township Mayor Jeff Grayzel by fifteen points.
In 2023, Bucco beat Christine Clarke by 2,759 votes, about five points.
The 25th district is one of four in the state with a Republican senator that was carried by Sherrill, along with the 2nd (Vince Polistina), 8th (Latham Tiver), and 21st (Jon Bramnick).