Victor De Luca has been unanimously elected by his five Township Committee peers to be Mayor of Maplewood for 2026.
De Luca was nominated by current Mayor Nancy Adams at a virtual caucus of the Maplewood Democratic Committee on November 20; the motion was seconded by incoming Township Committee member Jane Collins-Colding.
De Luca was sworn into his 9th term on the Maplewood Township Committee on January 1, 2024 and will be serving the third year of his three-year term in 2026. De Luca has previously served 14 non-consecutive years as mayor. He is now serving his 26th year on the TC.
Malia Herman was unanimously elected as Deputy Mayor. Herman was nominated by Dean Dafis; the motion was seconded by Collins-Colding. She will serve her second consecutive year in the position.
De Luca and Herman will be officially elected on January 1, 2026 and sworn in as Mayor and Deputy Mayor.
Maplewood Democratic Committee Chair Ian Grodman was happy to see a number of community members on the Zoom meeting for the caucus: “We’ve got a bunch of people who want to see how this works. That’s a good thing. We want people engaged,” said Grodman.
Grodman explained the process of the selecting the mayor, which is codified in the bylaws of the Township.
The selection of the mayor is not required, however, to be in public. The MDC has offered the public caucus in an effort to make it a “more transparent process,” said Grodman.
“This is not a Township Committee meeting that we are having here this evening,” said Grodman. “This is an Maplewood Democratic Committee meeting. We do this as a service to the members of the Township Committee so that they can sit down and have this conversation about who will serve as mayor and who will serve as deputy mayor in the following year.”
“Before I place my nomination, I just want to share a couple of thoughts,” said Adams. “Serving as mayor these past two years has really been an honor. I’ve really loved this work and I’ve stayed calm and steady in leading the township and I’m really proud of what all of us on the Towship Committee have accomplished together here. And, yes, I’ll admit it — I would happy do it for another year.”
“But as I said several years ago, when I was advocating for changes to the Township Committee bylaws, our form of government was designed for the mayorship to rotate more regularly and, in the past, that hasn’t happened in Maplewood,” said Adams. “And that’s why we changed the bylaws … And I think following that spirit really matters. It keeps our leadership fresh. It keeps us grounded in our bylaws. And it reinforces that we serve as a team, not as individuals holding onto the titles.”
Adams concluded, “With gratitude for the last few years .. and obviously with confidence in his experienced leadership, I’m proud to nominate my colleague Vic De Luca.”
