Rudy Fernandez, one of the Essex Democratic mayors who endorsed Republican Gov. Chris Christie in 2013, will not seek re-election to a fifth term on the Livingston Township Council this year.
Democrats have picked Rosaura Bagolie to run on the organization line for council this year, ending a complex series of negotiations that will result in Ketan Bhuptani receiving party support for a council seat in 2024, the New Jersey Globe has confirmed.
The deal between Democrats to avoid a primary will result in a greater role for Livingston’s emerging Asian American community in party matters, but will also likely assure that Patricia Sebold, an Essex County Commissioner, celebrates her 50th anniversary as the Democratic municipal chair in 2026.
Asian Americans represent 27.8% of Livingston’s population, the 2020 U.S. Census chows, but no Asian American has ever served on the five-member township council.
Bagolie, a Latina, had won a vote of the Democratic county committee by a 19-10 margin against Bhuptani, with school board president Samantha Messer receiving 4 votes.
Bhuptani will get the next seat. That means one of the two councilmen who are up for re-election in 2024 — Al Anthony, a former mayor who has served three terms, or Michael Vieira, who is slated to become mayor next year — will lose their place on the organization line. Neither has announced their future plans.
As part of an agreement, Sebold and Bhuptani agreed to form the Livingston Democratic Club, a new group that will partner with the county committee on the selection of future local candidates.
Bhuptani and Jarrid Kantor, the township attorney, will initially serve as co-chairs of the club.
Carrie Parikh, the chief privacy officer at Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield and the former state Office of Information Technology COO, will serve as vice chair of the Democratic Club. The Democratic county committee has agreed to create a second vice chair of the local party organization and Parikh will hold that post, along with Vieira. Vieira will also be involved in the working group that will form the new club.
A key component of the accord is that 38 delegates from the Democratic Club will join 52 county committee members to select future candidates, although possibly not until 2026 since Bhuptani has been assured of the next seat as part of the agreement.
The local party will also approve a set of bylaws.
Republicans have not yet announced their slate, but three candidates have taken out petitions to run: Sejal Lakhani-Bhatt, Michael Levi and Ruslan Milov. Lakhani-Bhatt could become the first Asian American on the Livingston council, and the first Republican woman in eight years
Fernandez first ran for township council as a Republican in 2006 and lost by 1,336 votes. By April 2008, Fernandez has switched parties and was appointed to fill a vacancy following the resignation of Councilman Leland Peyser. He ran unopposed in a November 2008 special election to fill the remaining 26 months of Peyser’s term.
Two Democratic incumbents lost re-election in 2010, but Fernandez held his seat by just seven votes to keep Democrats in control of the council. Four years later, Democrats Shawn Klein and Edward Meinhardt unseated the two GOP incumbents – one ran as an independent after losing party support for re-election. Fernandez was the top vote-getter in that election and coasted to another term in 2018.
Fernandez joined Democratic mayors of Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge and Orange to back Christie when he sought re-election to a second term.
Bagolie, a school principal, will run with Klein and Meinhardt in the June 7 Democratic primary. If she wins, Bagolie will become the first woman on the township council since 2014 and the first Democratic woman since Arlene Johnson lost in 2010.
Sebold is the longest-serving county commissioner in Essex history. She became Livingston Democratic municipal chair in 1976 after John B. Duff, a former congressional candidate and the Seton Hall University provost, resigned to become the president of the University of Massachusetts – Lowell.
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