Three incumbent members of the Trenton City Council have been re-elected, winning full four-year terms to their ward-based seats in the first election since the city began staggering municipal elections, while a fourth councilwoman looks like she’s headed to a runoff against the same opponent she beat in 2022.
In the city’s South Ward, Councilwoman Jenna Figueroa Kettenburg leads challenger Damian Malave by all of two votes, 973 to 971, in a nonpartisan race. Thanks to the presence of minor candidate Evengeline Ugorji, neither candidate has reached 50% of the vote, setting up a runoff election on December 3.
The election will be an exact rematch of 2022, when Figueroa Kettenburg narrowly beat Malave in a runoff after Ugorji got eliminated in the first round. That runoff was a toxic affair, with Malave claiming that Figueroa Kettenburg wasn’t actually Hispanic and unsuccessfully attempting to get her thrown off the ballot because she filed with “Figueroa” as part of her last name.
Races in the city’s other three wards were not nearly as competitive. In the West Ward, Councilwoman Teska Frisby won re-election 75% to 25% against Mary Horne, who had run for the same seat in 2022 and came in a distant third. And in the North and East Wards, incumbent Councilmembers Jennifer Williams and Joseph Harrison won re-election uncontested.
Williams, the former chairwoman of the Trenton Republican Party and one of the first openly transgender elected officials in New Jersey history, was first elected in a one-vote squeaker in 2022 against Algernon Ward. Williams was set to face a challenge from former at-large council candidate Kadja Manuel this year, but his nominating petitions were rejected.
All Trenton municipal offices – mayor, three at-large council seats, and four ward seats – were previously elected at the same time, but that changed beginning this year; now, ward seats will be up in presidential years and other offices will be up in midterm years.