It looks like gubernatorial candidate Steve Fulop’s slate of State Assembly contenders in the Morris County-based 25th district could win the June 10 primary by default after Morris County Democratic Chair Amalia Duarte was unable to recruit her own candidates to take on two Republican incumbents, Aura Dunn (R-Mendham) and Christian Barranco (R-Jefferson).
Morristown Councilman Steve Pylypchuk and Morristown Planning Board member Marisa Sweeney, the Fulop candidates, did not seek a party endorsement at last week’s Morris Democratic convention.
The 25th district is considered potentially competitive, although Democrats have not seriously contested it since 2019 when the old legislative map was still in effect.
Donald Trump carried the 25th by one-half of one percent in 2024, finishing 647 votes ahead of Kamala Haris. Jack Ciattarelli carried the 25th four years ago by eight percentage points against Gov. Phil Murphy; in 2020, Joe Biden won the new 25th by six points.
In 2023, Republican Anthony Bucco retained his Senate seat by five points and a 2,759-vote margin. Barranco won by 1,458 votes.
Unless Democrats can come up with candidates before the March 24 filling deadline, they’ll need to embrace Fulop’s picks regardless of how the governor’s race pans out.
Democrats have not won the 25th since 1993, when former Assemblyman Gordon MacInnes (D-Morris Township) ousted Senate Majority Leader John Dorsey. Bucco’s father unseated MacInnes in 1997. The last Democratic Assembly win in the 25th came in 1977 when Rosemarie Totaro (D-Denville) defeated former Rep. Joseph Maraziti (R-Boonton) for the seat Dorsey gave up running for the Senate. She lost two years later.
MacInnes and Totaro were among a group of 66 Democrats who captured Assembly seats in the 1973 Watergate wave election.
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