Essex County Democratic Chairman LeRoy Jones, Jr. has been re-elected to another two-year term without opposition after social media bigmouths who don’t care for one of the state’s most potent county political organizations couldn’t recruit candidates to run for county committee seats.
Jones, a former assemblyman and freeholder, became county chairman in 2013 after incumbent Phil Thigpen, 87, the Essex County Register of Deeds and Mortgages, died in office. He also serves as Democratic state chairman and East Orange Democratic municipal chairman.
After a federal judge ordered office block ballots instead of organization lines in the 2024 Democratic primary, Jones’ son, scored a landslide victory in the race for Essex County Sheriff. Amir Jones, the current undersheriff, won 83% of the vote, a higher percentage than the popular outgoing incumbent, Armando Fontoura, ever received in a contested primary during his more than three decades in office.
Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz (D-Newark) was re-elected vice chair, and Jamie Vincent Serritella, a president of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters & Joiners Local 342, received another term as second vice chair.
Jones became county chairman in 2013 after Phil Thigpen, 87, the Essex County Register of Deeds and Mortgages, died in office. Thigpen had followed his cousin, Rep. Donald Payne, Sr. (D-Newark), who was one of several county chairs in Congress who stepped down after campaign finance reforms prevented them from holding both offices. Payne followed Thomas Giblin, who had served for nine years before running for county executive.
Baseemah Beasley is county Democratic secretary and Mike Del Plato is treasurer. Named to the party leadership team are Assembly Budget Committee Chair Eliana Pintor-Marin (D-Newark), Assemblyman Michael Venezia (D-Bloomfield), and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill (D-Montclair).
Gill was also re-elected this week for another term as Montclair Democratic municipal chairman.