The Maplewood Democratic Committee will hold a virtual caucus of the 2026 members of the Maplewood Township Committee on Nov. 20 at 7:30 p.m. via Zoom to select the Mayor and Deputy Mayor for 2026. Find the link here.
The Maplewood Mayor and Deputy Mayor are not directly elected by the voting public, but are chosen from among the members of the Township Committee during the caucus each year.
The Township Committee revised its bylaws on January 1, 2023, to limit the number of years that a mayor can serve consecutively: “The Chair [of the Township Committee, meaning the mayor] shall serve for one (1) year and not more than three (3) consecutive years.”
Mayor Nancy Adams is finishing her second year as mayor and is eligible to be mayor again next year. However, it is not required that she serve three years. The TC has been rotating members to serve as mayor in two-year increments recently. After Vic De Luca stepped back as mayor at the end of 2019 (his 14th year as Mayor), Frank McGehee served in 2020 and 2021, Dean Dafis served in 2022 and 2023, and Adams served in 2024 and 2025.
The 2026 members of the Township Committee are: Adams, Dafis, De Luca, Malia Herman (current Deputy Mayor), and incoming member Jane Collins-Colding.
The selection of the mayor from among the TC members has included some drama over the years. Deborah Engel, who is serving her last year on the TC, said she was passed over for mayor for 2025 when she failed to endorse Mikie Sherrill in the Democratic primary for Governor [Engel ultimately endorsed Sherrill after the primary]:
In 2017, Dafis withdrew his support for Greg Lembrich as mayor at the last moment, with Lembrich learning of the switch during the caucus broadcast:
DeLuca Voted Maplewood Mayor in Dramatic 3-2 Vote, Lembrich Expresses ‘Shock’
In December 2021, then-Mayor Frank McGehee sought a third term as mayor, but was shut out. McGehee questioned the process (as did Adams):
Dafis to be Next Mayor of Maplewood with DeLuca as Deputy; Process is Called into Question
Although the change in bylaws was meant to, at least in part, limit the drama, the politicking continues. As Maplewood Democratic Committee Chair Ian Grodman noted last year, “sometimes it’s a difficult conversation” not just based on governance “but also on politics.”
