Pedro Mejia to replace Prieto in Assembly

Hudson County Democrats are sending a fresh face to Trenton to replace Vincent Prieto in the State Assembly: sources say that Pedro Mejia of Secaucus will get the 32nd district seat when Democrats hold a special election convention Wednesday night in North Bergen.

Mejia is the third choice for the seat that was vacated last month by Prieto, a former Assembly Speaker who resigned to become chief executive officer of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority. The first pick was Antonio Suarez, the brother of Hudson County Prosecutor Esther Suarez.  Sources say that fell apart when Suarez hinted that she might need to recuse herself from certain matters involving towns in the district if her brother was elected to the Legislature.

North Bergen Mayor/State Sen. Nicholas Sacco controls the county committee votes in the district and the seat is essentially his to give away.  For a while it looked like he wanted to give the Assembly seat to Joseph Muniz, a close ally.  Sources say that idea unraveled amidst a vetting process that went in a bad direction on social media as well as within Democratic circles.