In 2023, Christopher Binetti and Michelle Burwell each took on the Herculean task of trying to unseat incumbent members of the State Senate in Middlesex County Democratic primaries. They both got crushed, with Binetti receiving 11% of the vote in the 18th legislative district and Burwell receiving 14%.
This year, both challengers returned to run for the State Assembly in the same two districts – and, once again, they were handed overwhelming losses, the New Jersey Globe projects.
Binetti, an adjunct professor with a particular focus on combating discrimination against Italian Americans, lost to Assemblymen Sterley Stanley (D-East Brunswick) and Robert Karabinchak (D-Edison). As of 12:47 a.m., he has 11% of the vote.
(Stanley and Karabinchak were originally set to face a separate challenge from David Tingle, an Edison Police lieutenant affiliated with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop’s gubernatorial campaign, but Tingle withdrew after a challenge to his petitions.)
And Burwell, a social worker who has worked for the state Department of Child Protection and Permanency, fell to Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin (D-Woodbridge) and Assemblywoman Yvonne Lopez (D-Perth Amboy). She has 14% of the vote.
Republican tickets of Melanie Mott and Eugene DeMarzo in the 18th district and Maria Garcia and Marilyn Colon in the 19th district faced no primary opposition; both will face uphill climbs in the two longtime Democratic districts, though the 19th district came within a few hundred votes of supporting Donald Trump last year.