Democrats sweep Mercer County

Mercer County Democrats swept all four countywide elections on Tuesday, extending a winning streak that began 26 years ago and preserving their complete control of county government in one of New Jersey’s most reliably Democratic counties.

Sheriff Jack Kemler won another three-year term, Surrogate Diane Gerofsky was re-elected to a seventh five-year term, and Democratic Commissioner Lucylle Walter and former Princeton University official Nakia White Barr won the two seats on the Board of County Commissioners.

The victories preserve the Democrats’ 7-0 majority on the commissioner board and leave Republicans without a countywide elected official for another year.

Kemler, who first won the sheriff’s office in 2011, defeated Republican attorney David Meiswinkle, a veteran and retired police officer.

Gerofsky, first elected in 1996, defeated Republican Priscilla DeVine, an Army veteran.  Gerofsky is New Jersey’s longest-serving current county surrogate and will begin her 31st year in office in January.

Walter, a former Ewing school board member and special education teacher who first joined the county governing body in 1998, and White Barr defeated Republicans Kevin Monte De Ramos, a state Board of Public Utilities bureau chief, and Donald Ober, a business owner and musician.

White Barr’s victory completed a political journey that began with her upset of longtime Commissioner John Cimino in the June Democratic primary, the first defeat of a Mercer County incumbent in a primary since 2008.

All three candidates — Walter, Cimino and White Barr — received the Mercer County Democratic organization’s endorsement after the party convention, where Walter received 272 votes, Cimino 255 and White Barr 200. Under party rules, all three qualified to use the organization’s slogan.

But Cimino decided to bracket with Walter on the primary ballot, while White Barr ran separately and drew the coveted first ballot position. Walter appeared second and Cimino third.

White Barr finished first in the primary with 21,378 votes, followed by Walter with 20,214 and Cimino with 16,011.

The defeat was particularly notable because Gov. Mikie Sherrill had endorsed Walter and Cimino, citing their record of fiscal responsibility and investment in county services.

Cimino won the last successful primary challenge against a Mercer incumbent in 2008, when he defeated four-term Commissioner Tony Mack, who had served since 1996.

Republicans last won a countywide Mercer election in 2000, when County Clerk Cathy DiCostanzo was re-elected with 52% of the vote.

DiCostanzo later ran for county executive in 2003 and lost to Democrat Brian Hughes, who succeeded retiring Republican County Executive Robert Prunetti.  She attempted a comeback for county clerk in 2005 but lost to Democrat Paula Sollami Covello by just 237 votes out of more than 94,000 cast.

That narrow defeat ended the last Republican presence in Mercer County government.

Republicans have also disappeared from partisan municipal offices in Mercer, a county that once elected Republican mayors in Hamilton, Hopewell Borough and other communities.

Gov. Mikie Sherrill carried Mercer by 43 percentage points in 2025, while Kamala Harris won the county by 34 points in the 2024 presidential election.