Incumbent lead in Trenton city council runoff now at 7 votes

Trenton South Ward Councilwoman Jenna Figueroa Kettenburg now leads just seven votes after Tuesday’s runoff election against challenger Damian Malave.

Kettenburg is ahead, 357-350, a margin of 50.5% to 49.5%.

Voter turnout was a weak 9%. Trenton opted out of early voting for the runoff, which would have been conducted at the

The Mercer County Board of Elections is not expected to count any additional ballots until 4 PM on December 10.  There are still nineteen provisional ballots to be processed and potentially counted, and late arriving late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by 8 PM last night will be accepted through close of business on December 9.  Additionally, there are three outstanding cure letters where voters can repair a technical deficiency on their VBM ballot, like an unmatched signature.

Last night, Kettenburg was 24 votes ahead of Malave. The new count includes an unread voting machine cartridge, vote-by-mail ballots that arrived from drop boxes after the polls closed, and late-arriving mail-in ballots.

If the election ends in a tie, a judge would need to order a new election.

This is the fifth time Kettenburg and Malave have faced off since 2018.

In November 2022, Malave led Kettenburg by 57 votes in the November election, 47.8% to 42.4%; Ugorji trailed with 105 votes (9.8%).    But Kettenburg prevailed in the December runoff, beating Malave by 40 votes, 324-284 (53.3% to 46.7%).

Kettenburg and Malave challenged longtime incumbent George Muschal in 2018.  Muschal led Malave in the May election, 46.3% to 31.1%, with Kettenburg finishing third with 22.5%.  Muschal won the June runoff with 60.5% in what would become his final term.

In 2022, after Trenton moved its municipal elections from May to November, a reset of its city council elections gave four-year terms to three at-large seats and two-year terms to the four ward councilmembers. The winners of the 2024 election will get four-year terms going forward.

In Trenton’s North Ward, Jennifer Williams won a city council runoff by one vote, 428-427, in 2022.  She was unopposed for re-election this year.