Passaic County has been part of the Democratic Party’s winning coalition in the Garden State throughout most of the 21st century. The county routinely voted for Democratic candidates up and down the ballot starting in the 2000s.
That makes 2024 all the more striking. The county shocked the state when it voted for Donald Trump by three points after previously supporting Joe Biden by 16 points in 2020 and Hillary Clinton by a whopping 22 points in 2016. The result marked a dramatic shift that underscored Democrats’ problems with working-class and Hispanic voters. Places like Paterson, the state’s third-largest city and the largest municipality in the County, went from voting for Joe Biden by 61 points in 2020 to supporting Kamala Harris by just 27 points in 2024. The outcome gave Republicans hope that they could build on this momentum.
That momentum, however, appeared to fade as quickly as it emerged, with the lone Republican county commissioner losing re-election on the same ballot as Donald Trump and with Gov. Mikie Sherrill carrying the county by 16 points in 2025, more in line with the county’s pre-2024 partisan lean. In 2026, a year already shaping up to be much more Democratic than 2024, it seems many Passaic County voters are content to keep Democrats in charge.
Hawthorne, the City of Passaic, and Ringwood do not have municipal elections this year.
Democrats are uncontested in Bloomingdale’s and Woodland Park’s mayoral elections and in Haledon.
Republicans are unopposed in North Haledon, Pompton Lakes, and Totowa.
Clifton holds nonpartisan elections, with the filing deadline being August 20th.
Paterson holds nonpartisan elections in May.
U.S. Senate
Two-term Sen. Cory Booker is seeking another six-year term in Washington.
Booker has won Passaic County in all three of his Senate contests. He carried Passaic by 19 points over former Bogota Mayor Steve Lonegan in the 2013 special election and by 23 points against both Jeff Bell in 2014 and pharmaceutical executive Rik Mehta in 2020.
Booker faces former Tabernacle Deputy Mayor Justin Murphy, the Republican nominee.
The county recently came close to backing a Republican for U.S. Senate. Curtis Bashaw lost the county by just three points to now-Sen. Andy Kim in 2024.
County Commissioner
Commissioner Orlando Cruz is seeking re-election with appointed Commissioner Nick Veliky; both are seeking a full three-year term.
Veliky was appointed last month to fill the seat vacated by John Bartlett, who resigned to become general counsel of the Gateway Development Corporation.
Veliky is now running for a full three-year term to replace Bruce James, who declined to seek re-election. If Veliky wins this year, he will leave the Board of County Commissioners when his temporary appointment expires in November and will be sworn in to a full term in January after the election results are certified.
Passaic County Democrats appear to have settled on Haledon Councilwoman Aleksandra Tasic to run for county commissioner after a screening committee meeting on July 18, making her the overwhelming favorite to win a special convention and become the party’s nominee next month. Tasic is expected to run for the seat previously held by Bartlett and now temporarily filled by Veliky.
Republicans picked Marko Kopec as their candidate for the thirteen-month unexpired term, and he will likely face Tasic. Cruz and Veliky face Wanaque Councilman Ed Leonard and John Rodriguez, a former law enforcement official and career New Jersey Transit locomotive engineer, in the general election. Leonard replaced Republican primary winner Daiel Sagan, who withdrew from the race.
Democrats currently hold a 7-0 majority on the Board of County Commissioners. Republicans won three seats in 2009, lost them in 2012, regained one in 2021, and lost it again in 2024.
County Surrogate
Surrogate Zoila Cassanova is seeking re-election to a second five-year term.
Cassanova, a former attorney for the New York Supreme Court Criminal Division in Queens and the Bronx, was first elected in 2021 after her predecessor, Bernice Toledo, decided not to seek re-election after being disciplined for improperly granting an executorship to a political ally.
Her Republican opponent is prominent family law attorney Jessica Sprague.
Republicans have not won a Passaic County Surrogate race since 1992, when Rosalie Masarie ousted incumbent William J. Bate. Bate, a former state senator and assemblyman, came back and unseated Masarie in a 1997 rematch.
In 1977, Wayne Planning Board Chairman Leonard Talerico defeated former Assemblyman William Hicks (D-Paterson) after GOP incumbent James Ward declined to seek re-election.
When Talerico sought a second term in 1982, he lost 61%-39% to Bate, a former state senator and assemblyman from Clifton. Bate died in 2011 and was succeeded by Toledo.
5th Congressional District
The 5th congressional district includes Bloomingdale, Ringwood, Wanaque, and West Milford.
Five-term Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly) is seeking re-election to another term. Gottheimer ran against Gov. Mikie Sherrill in the 2025 gubernatorial election last year, finishing 4th in the Democratic primary.
This year, Gottheimer is being challenged by Sean Kirrane, a corporate consultant.
The 5th district came within two points of voting for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. Gov. Mikie Sherrill carried the district by seven points in 2025.
Gottheimer lost the Passaic portion of NJ-05 to former Tuxedo Park mayor Mary Jo Guinchard by 13 points in 2024. Donald Trump carried the 5th district’s portion of Passaic County by 17 points in 2024.
9th Congressional District
The 9th congressional district includes Clifton, Haledon, Hawthorne, North Haledon, Passaic, Paterson, Pompton Lakes, Prospect Park, and part of Wayne.
Freshman Rep. Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon) is seeking re-election to a second term.
Long considered a Democratic stronghold, the district narrowly voted for Donald Trump by one point in 2024, like Passaic County as a whole. In 2025, the district swung back to the Democratic Party, backing Gov. Mikie Sherrill by 20 points.
Pou faces Clifton Councilwoman Rosie Pino in November.
If Pino is successful in November, she would become the first member of Congress from Clifton since Rep. Bill Martini (R-Clifton), who served one term after defeating Rep. Herb Klein (D-Clifton) in 1994 before losing to Paterson Mayor and Assemblyman Bill Pascrell in 1996.
11th Congressional District
The 11th congressional district includes Little Falls, Totowa, part of Wayne and Woodland Park.
Rep. Analilia Mejia (D-Glen Ridge) is seeking her first full term after winning the April special election to succeed Gov. Mikie Sherrill.
Mejia defeated former Randolph Mayor and current Councilman Joe Hathaway, 60%-39%, in April. The two will meet again in a November rematch.
Mejia narrowly carried the Passaic portion of NJ-11 by less than a point over Hathaway in the NJ-11 Special election back in April. Donald Trump carried the Passaic portion of NJ-11 by 17 points in 2024.
Bloomingdale
Democratic Councilmembers Peyman “Ray” Yazdi and Dominic V. Catalano are seeking re-election to another three-year term. Yazdi was first elected mayor in 2011. Catalano was appointed to the council in 2022 when then-Democratic Councilman John D’Amato was elected mayor in 2021.
D’Amato is unopposed this year in his bid for another term.
Challenging Yazdi and Catalano are Republicans Pamela Pearce and Darlene Santangelo, both members of the Bloomingdale Republican Committee. Santangelo and Yazdi both ran for council in 2025, losing to Democratic councilmembers David Bronkhurst and Jennifer Hagin.
Democrats currently control all six seats on the borough council.
The borough leans more Republican at the top of the ticket. Donald Trump won the borough by 12 points in 2024, and Jack Ciattarelli carried the borough by just under two points in 2025.
Little Falls
Popular Democratic Councilman Christopher Vancheri is seeking re-election to another term and is running with Democrats Daniel Beck and Nancy Friedrich, who are seeking to flip two council seats from red to blue and win control of the township.
Republican Councilwoman Jayna Patel is seeking re-election alongside Republican truck driver Mark Facciollio and substitute teacher Jenna Anevski. The three are running to flip Vancheri’s seat while also holding the seat currently held by retiring Republican Councilman Michael Murphy.
Democrats currently hold a 3-2 majority on the council. This election will determine control of the borough.
Little Falls is highly competitive. Gov. Mikie Sherrill carried the township by just under three points in 2025, and Donald Trump carried it by just under 10 points in 2024.
Prospect Park
Mayor Mohammed Khairullah is seeking another four-year term. He faces Republican Emma Anderson, a former William Paterson University Spanish professor and former member of the Prospect Park Board of Education.
Democratic Councilwoman Esther Perez is seeking re-election along with Democrat Luis Vega, a retired Paterson firefighter, who is running for the seat currently held by Councilman Robert Artis. Artis challenged Khairullah in the 2026 Democratic primary for mayor, losing 498-356 votes, a 58%-42% margin. Perez and Vega campaigned for Artis in the June 2nd Democratic primary.
Challenging them are Republicans William J. Willemsen and Nelvin Mercado Duran. Mercado Duran unsuccessfully ran for State Assembly in the 35th legislative district last year.
In 2024, Khairullah challenged iconic Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-Paterson) in the Democratic primary for the 9th congressional district.
Prospect Park is a solidly Democratic town. Mikie Sherrill carried it by 56 points last year tho the town did narrow up significantly in 2024, only backing Kamala Harris by 15 points.
Wanaque
Daniel Mahler is seeking another term as Wanaque’s mayor, where he faces Democrat Sandy Lawson, a former member of the Passaic County Open Space Advisory Committee.
Republican councilmembers Donald J. Pasquariello, Jr. and Robert Pettet are seeking re-election to another three-year term on the Wanaque Council. Democrats Richard McFarlane, a longtime member of the Wanaque Board of Education, and Darlyn J. Warner are challenging the pair.
McFarlane and Warner ran for council in 2025, losing to Republican Councilmembers Dominick Cortellessa and Edward Leonard. Leonard is currently running for Passaic County commissioner this year.
Wanaque is Republican-leaning, voting for Donald Trump by 13 points in 2024 and for Jack Ciattarelli by just under five points in 2025.
Wayne 5th Ward
The Township Council’s Fifth Ward seat was vacated by Democrat Francine Ritter, who ran for an at-large seat last November but was defeated and then resigned and moved out of Wayne. The seat was filled on an interim basis by Democrat June Fisher-Markowitz, who is not running for the unexpired term. Instead, Democrats are running Dennis Marnick, head of real estate at 1-800-Flowers, while Republicans are running Matthew Cavallo, the head administrator for the Township of Wyckoff.
Fisher-Markowitz and Ritter before her were the only Democrats serving on the Wayne Council.
Wayne leans Republican, but the 5th Ward is more Democratic than the township as a whole. Ritter was first elected in 2019 and re-elected in 2023
Wayne as a whole voted for Donald Trump by 14 points in 2024 and for Jack Ciattarelli by six points in 2025.
West Milford
Republican Councilman David Marsden is seeking re-election alongside fellow Republican William Cytowicz, who is seeking to fill the seat currently held by retiring Republican Councilman Michael Chazukow.
No Democrats initially filed to run. However, Democrat Kate Huggins, a political science student at Passaic County Community College, won enough write-in votes to secure the Democratic nomination for one of the seats.
Republicans currently control all six seats on the West Milford Council.
West Milford is one of the most Republican towns in Passaic County, voting for Donald Trump by 24 points in 2024 and for Jack Ciattarelli by 17 points in 2025.
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