Playing chicken in a glass house, all GOP candidates off the ballot in 28th

A petition war among Republicans in one of the most heavily Democratic districts in the state has reduced the field of Assembly candidates from three to zero.

Willie Sinai Jetti and Che Colter, who had the Essex and Union GOP endorsements, were tossed from the primary ballot after 67 of their 297 signatures on nominating petitions didn’t hold up after a partial review; Toye Kumolu, who challenged their filings, was also kicked off when his 260 signatures didn’t survive the scrutiny.

The only remedy is a write-in campaign in the Republican primary; under the new law, candidates must get 250 write-in votes to move forward to the general election.

The 28th district includes Irvington, Maplewood, South Orange, and part of Newark in Essex and Hillside in Union.  Kamala Harris carried by 77 percentage points in 2024, and Phil Murphy won it by 83 points in 2021.

One Democratic candidate in the 28th, Nadirah Brown, is also off the ballot.  She filed just five more signatures than she needed.

In the 19th district, Michelle Burwell narrowly survived a challenge to her bid for the Democratic Assembly nomination; 73 signatures were thrown out, but she still had 255 – five more than she needed.