Pinkin faces rematch with Bengivenga in 18th district

South Plainfield council president Robert Bengivenga will make a second bid for State Assembly in the 18th district.

Bengivenga and Jeffrey Brown won the recommendation of the Middlesex County Republican screening committee last night to take on incumbents Nancy Pinkin (D-East Brunswick) and Robert Karabinchak (D-Edison).

Pinkin defeated Bengivenga in 2013 by 2,669 votes.

In 2017, Bengivenga’s mother, April, ran for Assembly.  She finished 12,742 votes behind Pinkin and 11,817 behind Karabinchak.

Bengivenga is serving his fourth term as a councilman.   Brown is an East Brunswick attorney.

There are 38,878 more Democrats than Republicans in the 18th,

Republicans last won an Assembly race there was in 1993.

Still, the district had a spirited race in 2013, when East Brunswick mayor David Stahl switched parties and won 48% of the vote as a Republican against State Sen. Peter Barnes III (D-Edison).