Democrats on the Maplewood Township Committee have pulled their support of Deborah Engel for mayor after she declined to endorse Rep. Mikie Sherrill’s bid to become the Democratic nominee for governor.
After securing the votes to become mayor when the township committee reorganizes in January, Engel was told the commitment was contingent on signing a letter of elected officials from New Jersey’s 11th district backing Sherrill. She refused.
“I felt pressured that I had to endorse a certain candidate,” said Engel, who is finishing her second year as a township committeewoman. “Some of us feel disengaged by the process.”
Instead, Mayor Nancy Adams will stay on, and Township Committeewoman-elect Malia Herman will become deputy mayor.
Engel would not identify who threatened her but made it clear it was not Sherrill. She said she remains undecided about her first choice to succeed term-limited Gov. Phil Murphy in 2025.
“I know I like her for Congress. I want to hear more about her as governor,” she said. “I’m for competitive primaries.”
Adams has endorsed Sherrill, along with Herman and Township Committeemen Dean Dafis and Victor De Luca.
In the June primary, Adams and another incumbent, Jamaine Cripe, ran for re-election as a team, and the local Democratic organization endorsed both. But Herman, a former Associated Press and Gannett reporter, defeated Cripe by 566 votes.
Engel was elected in 2022 after winning the Democratic primary with 85% of the vote, and is up for re-election next year.
The move appears to defang the anti-machine views of the local Democratic party, which voted to eliminate county lines for local elections in 2022. U.S. District Court Judge Zahid Quraishi ended lines for Democrats in 2024 and is likely to banish them permanently for both parties this year.