At least 73 Democratic District leaders in Essex County — many from South Orange and Maplewood — have signed a letter to the Essex County Democratic Party leadership asking for a delay of the primary endorsement convention for the open 11th Congressional District seat that was recently held by Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill.
Update: As of the morning of December 1, eighty-two (82) district leaders have signed the letter.
The convention is presently scheduled for Tuesday, December 2. Candidates must deliver signatures to file to run by December 1.
District leaders say they have been told that “an as-yet-unknown number of candidates [will] speak for two minutes each via Zoom and then we’re expected to vote” at the convention on December 2. The district leaders are asking the Essex Dem leaders to “delay our convention to a timeframe similar to Morris County to allow for the field of candidates to be finalized and for information to be received from the campaigns.” Morris County’s convention is scheduled for December 14. The district leaders also are requesting that the endorsement be made by ranked-choice voting.
Essex County Democratic Party Chair Leroy Jones
As many as 11 Democratic candidates — and possibly more — are expected to vie for NJ-11, which is now considered a “safe” Democratic seat. Candidates include Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill, former Maplewood mayor and longtime Township Committee member Dean Dafis; former diplomat and NJ-7 Congressman Tom Malinowski, Passaic County Commissioner John Bartlett (Wayne); Morris Township Committeeman Jeff Grayzel; former Obama administration official Cammie Croft; and community advocate Anna Lee Williams. Gill has been endorsed by Gov. Murphy and numerous other Democratic officials and is seen as a favorite of the Democratic establishment.
Joe Rospars, a district leader from South Orange who published a letter in The Village Green on November 30 calling out numerous difficulties that, he contends, the “Democratic machine” is posing to an open selection in the primary, said that there are 454 eligible district leader spots in Essex County, but “those of us looking at it have only been able to identify 393 actual people who were elected in June 2024 to those spots.” He also noted that, although Essex County will “produce the most votes in the special election primary, more than Morris and Passaic combined,” the portion of Essex that is in CD-11 (and therefore able to vote at the convention) is only a minority of the overall Essex County district leaders. Rospars sees the response to the letter in a short period of time over a holiday weekend as “a glimmer of something positive” to come from the situation.
South Orange district leaders who have signed include South Orange Democratic Committee Vice Chair Ritu Pancholy, South Orange Democratic Committee Secretary Erika Malinoski, Deborah Alessandro, Kim Collins, Stuart Deutsch, Holly Gauthier, William Graves, Kathy Greenstone, Anita Gundanna, Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad, Laura Levine, Olivia Lewis-Chang, Rebecca Morrison, Allecyn Ries, Joe Rospars, and Kate Slevin.
Maplewood district leaders include Maplewood Mayor-Elect Vic De Luca, Maplewood Democratic Committee Chair Ian Grodman, Maplewood Democratic Committee First Vice Chair Michele Alonso, Maplewood Democratic Committee Corresponding Secretary Kathleen Leventhal, Sean Bailey, Beth Benjamin, Julian Brash, Jennifer Chuang, Township Committee member Dean Dafis, Ted Dorset, William Gifford, Tammy Haynie, Deputy Mayor Malia Herman, David Huemer, Irene Langlois, Bruno Lee, Gerald Leventhal, Mark Loughney, Allison Posner, Catherine Reilly, Gail Safian, Nancy Schwartz, Ronni Schwartz, South Orange-Maplewood Board of Education member-elect Paul Stephan, and John T. Sullivan.
Read the letter here:
An Open Letter to Essex County Democratic Committee Leadership:
As district leaders at the town level, we’re being called to a virtual convention in less than a week to vote on the Essex County Democratic Committee endorsement for the Congressional special election. We’ve been told to expect an as-yet-unknown number of candidates to speak for two minutes each via Zoom and then we’re expected to vote.
Our neighbors in Morris County have chosen a better path: more time, more preparation, more information from candidates, and — critically — a ranked-choice vote for the endorsement.
These are extraordinary circumstances: a short timeline, many candidates, no public polling, no campaign finance report from most of the candidates to understand their resources (and where those resources come from). There have been no forums or debates.
Essex County Democrats should delay our convention to a timeframe similar to Morris County to allow for the field of candidates to be finalized and for information to be received from the campaigns.
And no matter when the convention takes place, in the interests of democracy and unity behind the choice made by the convention, we request that the endorsement be made by ranked-choice voting.
Ranked-choice voting is a critical tool for ensuring unity behind the person chosen for the endorsement. By listing their preferences in order, convention delegates can ensure they have a voice that is heard even if their top choice doesn’t win; by receiving second- and third-choice support, the eventual winner will be able to claim support of a true majority of the convention.
We believe that secure ranked-choice voting technology is readily available to be implemented for the December 2nd virtual convention, but if the Essex County Democratic Committee isn’t able to implement it, the convention should be postponed until such time as it can. In that event, we would also encourage committee leadership to use the time to conduct more uniform information-gathering from the candidates to help inform the convention delegates.
We should prioritize unity and democracy over faction and gamesmanship. The stakes are too high.
Signed, in our personal capacity:
Vic De Luca, Mayor-Elect, Township of Maplewood & District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Ritu Pancholy, District Leader & Vice Chair, South Orange Democratic Committee
Michele Alonso, District Leader & First Vice Chair, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Trina Frankel, District Leader & Secretary, Millburn-Short Hills Democratic Committee
Erika Malinoski, District Leader & Secretary, South Orange Democratic Committee
Kathleen Leventhal, District Leader & Corresponding Secretary, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Stacey Abenstein, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Deborah Alessandro, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Sean Bailey, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Ellen Bates, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Laurie Beacham, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Beth Benjamin, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Larry Bergmann, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Julian Brash, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Bill Brazell, District Leader, Millburn-Short Hills Democratic Committee
Evan Brody, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Rodney P. Cauthen, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Jennifer Chuang, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Kim Collins, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Dean Dafis, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Ted Dorset, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Stuart Deutsch, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Michael Evangelista, District Leader, Nutley Democratic Committee
Ilene Friedman, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Jennifer Preziotti Gamble, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Ted Gamble, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Cynthia Garcia, District Leader, Glen Ridge Democratic Committee
Holly Gauthier, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
William Gifford, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Jon Gordon, District Leader, Millburn-Short Hills Democratic Committee
Jordana Horn Gordon, District Leader, Millburn-Short Hills Democratic Committee
William Graves, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Kathy Greenstone, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Ian Grodman, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Anita Gundanna, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Tara Halpern, District Leader, Millburn-Short Hills Democratic Committee
Tammy Haynie, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Alyse Berger Heilpern, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Libby Heller, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Malia Herman, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Kevin Hoo, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
David Huemer, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Joan Hussey, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Amy Ipp, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Irene Langlois, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Stephanie Lawson-Muhammad, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Bruno Lee, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Gerald Leventhal, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Laura Levine, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Olivia Lewis-Chang, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Kevin Lindahl, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Mark Loughney, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Satenik Margaryan, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Analilia Mejia, District Leader, Glen Ridge Democratic Committee
Rebecca Morrison, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Andrea Podgarsky, District Leader, Nutley Democratic Committee
Allison Posner, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Catherine Reilly, , District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Allecyn Ries, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Joe Rospars, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Gail Safian, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Harriet Schneiderman, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
Nancy Schwartz, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Ronni Schwartz, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Joseph Shure, District Leader, Glen Ridge Democratic Committee
Kate Slevin, District Leader, South Orange Democratic Committee
Paul Stephan, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
John T. Sullivan, District Leader, Maplewood Democratic Committee
Norm Sutaria, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Tracy Toler-Phillips, District Leader, Bloomfield Democratic Committee
Laura Valente, District Leader, Nutley Democratic Committee
Debbie Weinstein, District Leader, Livingston Democratic Committee
