A one-stop shop for county primary results

Essex County offered one of the bigger surprises of the night when former Maplewood Deputy Mayor Deb Engel secured a Democratic nomination for an at-large Essex County Board of Commissioners seat despite not earning the party’s backing. Three party-backed candidates nabbed the other nominations. 

An incumbent fell in Mercer as former Princeton University official Nakia White Barr defeated longtime Mercer County Commissioner John Cimino. Lucylle Walter, another longtime incumbent, won the second nomination.

A threat to Passaic County Democratic Chairman John Currie’s commissioner slate never fully materialized, as incumbent Orlando Cruz and Clifton Democratic Club President Nick Veliky won the nominations up for grabs. CAIR Action NJ and Senator Bernie Sanders had backed insurgent candidate Ali Aljarrah.

An 82-year-old Republican will battle a 77-year-old Democrat for the right to be Bergen County’s surrogate after GOP Franklin Lakes Councilman Joseph S. Conte won a contested primary. Conte seeking to flip deep-blue Bergen: “Here’s nothing, guard it with your life.”

The Hudson County unity ticket held strong in the primary in the county’s 9th commissioner district, which includes East Newark, Harrison, Kearny, Secaucus, and parts of Jersey City. Non-profit activist Alex Valdez defeated Mina Ekladious, the president of the Kearny PBA, and Harrison Councilman Larry Bennett for the nomination.

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To read dispatches on each of the notable county office primaries, see below:

Mercer County: “White Barr ousts Cimino for Mercer commissioner nomination; Walter secures renomination”

Essex County: “Engel wins at-large Essex commissioner nomination in win for progressives; McGrath, Richardson, and Yasin win rest of nominations”

Bergen County: “It’s octogenarian vs. septuagenarian in race for Bergen County Surrogate”

Hudson County: “Valdez wins contested Hudson County commissioner primary”

Salem County: “Ramsay beats challenger for renomination to Salem commissioner seat”

Camden County: “Party-backed Camden County commissioners beat progressive primary challenge”

Passaic County: “Party-backed Passaic candidates fend off Bernie-backed challenger”

Cumberland County: “Franceschini, Pepitone, Smith win Dem primary in Cumberland County”