Citing spending problems and skyrocketing taxes, former Assemblyman Christian Barranco will seek the Republican nomination for mayor of Jefferson, taking on two-term incumbent Eric Wilsusen in the June primary.
“After four years of serving in the New Jersey Legislature and seeing first-hand how our state is being held under the thumb of those who hold public office for their own self-interests, I have decided to give Jefferson Township the opportunity to free ourselves from that same problem locally,” he said.
Barranco says that the Jefferson municipal budget increased by almost 40% since Wilsusen took office in 2019.
“At every opportunity, the administration of our town expands on the size and cost of our local government,” said Barranco. “Our property taxes continue to rise every year by larger and larger numbers, and the services that we receive from our township do not improve.”
He said that the township has “seen a very real pattern of expanding government, rising costs, and declining accountability” over the last two decades.
“While the Highlands Act continues to affect us, it cannot explain years of unchecked spending growth created right here at home,” Barranco explained. “Our Township does not have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem.”
Wilsussen, a former deputy police chief in Jefferson, ousted four-term mayor Russell Feltner in the 2018 GOP primary with 58% of the vote. Critics of Wilsusen have captured a majority of council seats in the last few primaries, and have twice defeated H. Ronald Smith, a 92-year-old miniaturized political boss, in council primaries.
Barranco, a staunch conservative, served in the State Assembly for four years before losing his seat last November to Democrat Marisa Sweeney (D-Morristown) by 1,793 votes – and to his running mate, GOP Assemblywoman Aura Dunn (R-Mendham) by 963 votes. Democrat Mikie Sherrill won the 25th district by over five percentage points.
In that race, Barranco was the top vote-getter in Jefferson.
A former Pompton Lakes councilman who had moved to Jefferson several years ago, Barranco scored an upset win in 2021 when he defeated five-term Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce (R-Parsippany) at the Morris County Republican convention by nine votes, 87-78. He defeated DeCroce again in the Republican primary by 521 votes.
After legislative redistricting, Jefferson was moved from the 26th district to the next-door 25th and won re-election in the new district in 2023.
Barranco is a member of the Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 102. As a lawmaker, Barranco served on the Assembly Transportation and Independent Authorities and the Telecommunications and Utilities committees. He was the lone Hispanic member of the Assembly Republican Caucus.
Former legislators seeking local office is not uncommon.
After Assemblywoman Kim Eulner lost her Monmouth-based legislative seat in 2023, she was elected mayor of Shrewsbury. After John Amodeo lost in 2013, he was elected to several terms as a Margate city commissioner in Atlantic County. Former State Sen. Marcia Karrow, who was ousted in a 2009 Republican primary, is now the mayor of Flemington.