Republican Morris County Commissioner Tayfun Selen is seeking a third full term this November against Democratic Morristown Council Vice President Chris Russo, who argues that more than five decades of one-party control has left county government in need of a new perspective.
Selen, a former Chatham Township mayor, is running for re-election to a county governing body that has remained firmly under Republican control for decades. Russo is seeking to become the first Democrat elected to county government since Douglas Romaine won a freeholder seat in 1973.
The race comes as Democrats have become increasingly competitive in Morris County in statewide and federal elections while Republicans have continued to dominate county government. The GOP currently holds all seven seats on the Board of County Commissioners and all three constitutional officers.
This is also the second time Selen has sought a full term in a national election year when Republicans face potentially difficult political headwinds.
He faced a similar environment in 2020 and survived considerable ticket-splitting.
Joe Biden carried Morris County that year with 51% of the vote to Donald Trump’s 47%, a margin of more than 12,700 votes. On the same ballot, Selen ran more than 6,300 votes ahead of Trump and defeated Democrat Cary Amaro, 52%-48%, to win his first full term.
Selen picked up the endorsement this week of the Eastern Atlantic States Regional Council of Carpenters, a union that has previously backed Democratic candidates for Morris County commissioner.
The union represents more than 43,000 members across six states, including New Jersey. In 2021, it endorsed Democratic commissioner candidates T.C. McCourt, A.J. Oliver – both deeply flawed candidates — and Dina Mikulka (now a Superior Court Judge) in their unsuccessful bids against Republican Commissioners Deborah Smith, Stephen Shaw and John Krickus.
Selen joined the then-Board of Chosen Freeholders in February 2020 after winning a Republican convention to fill the unexpired term of Heather Darling, who had left the board to become Morris County Surrogate.
After winning his first full term that November, Selen secured a second three-year term in 2023, defeating Rockaway Township Councilman Jonathan Sackett, 54%-46%.
He also faced a competitive Republican primary that year, defeating former congressional candidate Paul DeGroot, 54%-46%. The primary was a rematch of their 2022 congressional contest, when DeGroot narrowly defeated Selen for the GOP nomination to challenge then-Rep. Mikie Sherrill.
Selen has made the county’s finances and infrastructure central to his campaign, pointing to its long-standing fiscal record.
“The county has had a AAA bond rating for the past 40 years,” Selen said.
He said he wants the county to “continue its path of fiscal responsibility.”
Selen and Russo have both emphasized continued investment in the County College of Morris and Morris County Vocational School District, as well as open-space preservation.
Russo, a pharmaceutical representative at Novartis, first ran unsuccessfully for Morristown Council in 2015 before winning a council seat in 2023 after prevailing in a competitive Democratic primary.
He is seeking to make the county’s long history of Republican control a central issue in the race, pointing to demographic changes, people moving into Morris County from elsewhere in the state following the COVID-19 pandemic, and the county’s large bloc of unaffiliated voters.
But Russo said he is not running to dismantle what already works in county government.
“I am not a political ideologue,” Russo said. “I am a pragmatist.”
When discussing the county’s political history, Russo pointed to the 53-year drought Democrats have faced at the county level and said voters should consider adding another perspective to county government.
“It’s about checks and balances and having a fresh set of eyes,” Russo said.
Russo won the Morris County Democratic organization’s endorsement without opposition. He has also received the endorsement of the New Jersey League of Conservation Voters, which cited county parks, infrastructure and environmental protection in backing his campaign.
Recent election results illustrate Morris County’s more competitive political environment at the statewide and federal levels, even as Republicans have maintained their hold on county offices.
After Biden’s five-point victory in 2020, Trump carried Morris County by about two points in 2024. In 2025, Democratic gubernatorial nominee Mikie Sherrill narrowly carried the county over Republican Jack Ciattarelli by less than a percentage point.
Despite Sherrill’s countywide victory, Republicans swept all three county commissioner seats on the ballot, extending a Democratic countywide drought that dates to Romaine’s 1973 victory.