A runoff for a city council seat in Trenton’s South Ward is close, with incumbent Jenna Figueroa Kettenburg leading Damian Malave by 24 votes in the fifth faceoff between the two since 2018.
Kettenburg and Malave tied in the November 5 non-partisan election with 1,044 votes each (46.6%); Evangeline Ugorji finished a distant third with 152 votes (6.8%).
With machine and vote-by-mail ballots counted, Kettenburg is in front, 338-314, 51.8% to 48.2%. Nineteen provisional ballots won’t be counted until next week – not all will necessarily be counted – along with late-arriving vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by 8 PM this evening.
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 her bid for a second term, Kettenburg had the endorsements of Mayor Reed Gusciora, former Mayor Douglas Palmer, and three three city councilwomen: Crystal Feliciano, Jasi Edwards and Jennifer Williams.
RELATED ARTICLES
-
November 7, 2018 -
May 3, 2020 -
