Democrats and Republicans in North Caldwell have cut a deal that will avoid the inconvenience of contested elections in 2026.
The incumbent mayor, Josh Raymond, a Democrat, decided not to seek a second term. Republican Councilman Ken Tilton filed for mayor, and Democrats opted not to run anyone.
In exchange, Republicans agreed not to contest two council seats currently held by Democrats Anthony Floria-Callori and Matthew Atlas. Atlas is not seeking re-election, and he’s been replaced on the Democratic ticket by Amy Franco.
The deal means the council will maintain a 3-3 split, but instead of a Democratic mayor with the tie-breaking vote, the mayor will be Republican.
There are still two scenarios that could unravel the deal: Democrats can nominate a mayoral candidate through a write-in campaign, and Republicans could do the same for borough council, if the winner can get 25 write-in votes; or a candidate can file as an independent by 4 PM on June 2, the day of the primary election.
Democrats took control of local government in North Caldwell for the first time in the borough’s 127-year history in 2022. Raymond, who served two terms as a GOP councilman, ousted three-term Republican Mayor Joseph Alessi by 133 votes, 52%-48%. In that election, four-term Councilman Arthur Rees switched parties and ran as a Democrat on a ticket with Steve Weinstein, a cousin of Rep. Josh Gottheimer. Weinstein beat Tilton by 75 votes, giving Democrats a 4-2 majority.
North Caldwell had been Republican enough to withstand the split between William Howard Taft and Theodore Roosevelt in 1912, the blue wave that accompanied Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 landslide, and the 1973 and 1974 Watergate Democratic sweeps that caused other GOP strongholds to elect Democrats to municipal office. But demographics have changed – farms and the old Essex County jail have been replaced by mini mansions – and North Caldwell today is politically competitive with more registered Democrats than Republicans.
The borough is now a Republican-leaning swing town: Hillary Clinton won it by 3 points in 2016, Joe Biden by 5 points in 2020, and Donald Trump by a little less than 2 points in 2024. Jack Ciattarelli carried North Caldwell by five points in 2021 and by 3.5 points in 2025. As a congressional candidate, Mikie Sherrill prevailed in North Caldwell by 10.5 points in 2022 and by four points in 2024.
In 2020, Democrats scored their first local victories in more than a century, with Floria-Callori (2,260), the son of former Essex County Assignment Judge Sallyanne Floria, (2,260) and Matthew Atlas (2,241) ousting two Republican incumbents, John Chiaia (2,165) and Cynthia Santomauro (2,157).
Despite their victory, Democrats chose not to compete in 2021, allowing Republican Councilmen Robert Kessler and Francis Astorino to run unopposed. There was another deal in 2023, when Floria-Callori and Atlas ran unopposed for re-election, and Democrats allowed Tilton to run unopposed in a bid to return to the council for an unexpired one-year term.
There was another deal in 2024, when Tilton and Democrat Johanna Stroever each ran unopposed in a race with two Republican seats up for election.
Last year, Rees switched back to the GOP, and his running mate, Suzanne Corbo, took out Weinstein by 104 votes.