Three candidates are running for two Maplewood Township Committee seats in 2024: incumbents Nancy Adams and Jamaine Cripe, and Malia Herman. The primary election is on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. The general election takes place on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. Read all of our Election Coverage here.
USA Today recently named Lucy the Elephant in Margate City the number one must-see roadside attraction in the country. The first time I saw Lucy the Elephant was with Malia Herman by my side, as I was struggling to complete my first half marathon. Malia cheered me on, chatted enthusiastically about everything and anything, and encouraged me to keep going even when I wanted to stop.
After I finished that half marathon, Malia encouraged me to keep going. Soon I found myself training for a full marathon. And, of course, Malia, who has run several marathons, continued to offer support and guidance. As anyone who’s ever run a marathon knows, training for one is no joke. It requires long-term goal setting, planning, lots of early mornings, hard work and dedication. Being an elected leader requires much of the same, and I’m confident that Malia has the work ethic needed to tackle and complete the challenging issues our town faces.
Malia is not just a cheerleader for me, but for all of Maplewood. She is a shop local devotee, shows up at all the community events and supports our community organizations, and she is the first one to raise her hand when someone needs help or a volunteer.
I admire Malia’s volunteer work in our community. Long before I was a small business advocate and an elected government leader, Malia and others from our new mom’s group brought Moms Demand Action to Maplewood. What does that mean exactly? It means Malia would use her personable nature to teach parents about the importance of gun safety and trained parents to ask if families’ had guns in their homes before sending their children over for playdates. She helped make it part of the community conversation.
I admire Malia’s work not only serving as a peer advisor and disability advocate for the disabled and their families in our schools, but for constantly calling attention to those community members in other areas in Maplewood. On the pool committee Malia has been advocating for special education swim lessons. When I ran for office Malia pointed out how town programming can be more inclusive for families with disabilities, and I know her voice in town government will keep these focuses top of mind because they are on her family’s top of mind every day.
We are lucky to have new voices that want to donate time, energy and empathy to our community. We are lucky to have another mother with school-aged children want to serve. We are even luckier that that person, mother and volunteer is Malia.
I fully endorse Malia Herman for Township Committee, and I hope you’ll cast your vote for her too.
Deborah Engel
Maplewood, NJ
Engel currently serves on the Maplewood Township Committee.
