Maplewood’s Irrepressible Dean Dafis Wants to Bring His Blue Collar Ethos to Washington

Not for nothing did Dean Dafis hold his Congressional campaign launch in a diner.

Dafis grew up helping his family of Greek immigrants run their diner at Broad & Fairmount in Philadelphia. It was a hardscrabble, blue collar introduction to the U.S. that has informed Dafis’s journey of public service.

When Dafis initially ran for Maplewood Township Committee eight years ago, his first recorded campaign remarks highlighted the word “affordability.”

“When I go and I speak to people in town, all across town, I hear the same thing over and over again,” said Dafis at the Hilton Neighborhood Association candidates forum in September 2017. “A lot of people don’t feel that they belong to the same Maplewood. A lot of people feel left out. Disenfranchised. Some people feel forgotten that the new demographic in town has replaced them.”

Citing “a significant lack of institutional equity in a lot of areas,” Dafis highlighted affordability — along with access to services, public safety, economic development, and support for South Orange and Maplewood’s shared public school district.

Eight years of service on the Township Committee later — with two as Mayor — and Dafis has worked hard on those issues and for those at the margins, focusing on affordable housing (home sharing, development, rehab, ADUs), community policing, access to social services, the community fridge, homelessness outreach, and more.

But outside pressures are making Maplewood — and life in the U.S. — more unaffordable than ever. Dafis and his supporters say this is why Mr. Dafis now needs to go to Washington.

From the Beginning

“The first time I ever heard of Dean, when I was mayor, he sent me an email out of the blue just saying that he and his partner were moving to Maplewood and he was excited about the opportunity and wanted to get involved in the community,” said Vic De Luca, who has served almost three decades on the Maplewood Township Committee, 14 as mayor, and will be Mayor of Maplewood once again on January 1, 2026. De Luca was the first to post on social media that Dafis was running for Gov.-Elect Mikie Sherrill’s seat in New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District and immediately declared himself “Team Dean.”

Dafis is one of 13 Democrats who filed to run in the Feb. 5, 2026 special primary election. One Republican filed. The general election is April 16.

“I met Dean — fittingly — at an event at the Park Wood Diner,” said De Luca in an interview with Village Green. “I think that’s where I first sat down with Dean and saw that he had a lot of energy and a lot of ideas.”

In his first campaign for Township Committee in 2017, Dafis was running with De Luca, but the two men were at odds on one topic: new apartments. De Luca had long been a proponent, working to attract developers to sites that presented major environmental cleanup. Dafis, on the other hand, said in that first campaign that the town was “at the saturation point with new apartments.” Now Dafis is a proponent of development — with the caveat that new buildings include increased requirements for affordable housing.

De Luca lauded Dafis’s learning curve on housing. “The government is not providing money to build housing. And, at the local level, we’ve actually done our part, we’ve put up a lot of money over the years to rehab housing. When you get [into office] and you realize that the way you’re going to get affordable housing is to negotiate percentages and set asides with developers, and that’s how you get affordable housing in this state. …  I don’t know if I took Dean under my wing as much as he just started participating in the process, and I think he realized that it is maybe a little more challenging to mix all these things and get something that you want.”

When asked about Dafis’s major accomplishments, De Luca begins with the interpersonal.

“Dean’s a hugger. He is somebody who’s very outgoing. He’s a very empathetic guy. He really senses people. I think he brought some of that to the township and some of our discussions about how our residents feel and what they’re thinking. I think he’s got a pretty good ear of what’s going on in the community and he can talk about what people are feeling in town. And I think that’s important.”

“And he’s a smart guy,” De Luca added. “He’s an attorney. When Dean first got involved, he was working in a search firm and he was interviewing candidates for pretty high powerful positions throughout the whole country. He’s brought that analytical skill to the Township Committee, asking people tough questions, pretty much centered on how they’re going to serve the community.”

By day, Dafis works as the Director of the Office of Eviction and Homelessness Prevention, Division of Housing & Community Resources for the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs. He started his career as a legal aide “representing the underrepresented.”

“I’ve seen a lot of different people in government. Some people talk a great game and some people kind of walk what they talk,” said De Luca. “And Dean’s a walker. He’ll bring something up, he’ll make sure we don’t forget it. He’ll push it. He’ll bring his stats to the table. He’ll go out and do some research, bring that to the table, and move it forward.”

Erin Scherzer, who was the first Chair of the Maplewood Community Board on Police, says that she and Dafis have become like “long lost siblings” — even counseling and consoling each other through health scares (Dafis had a faulty aortic valve repaired in 2024).

“We met through politics, and he had just moved to town. And we just clicked.”

Scherzer noted that Dafis was instrumental in the formation of the Community Board on Police in 2018 — a move made by the Township in the aftermath of police brutality against local teens of color after the July 5, 2016 town fireworks.

“Dean was part of creating the board, but he didn’t monopolize it,” said Scherzer. “His leadership style — we need more of it.”

Scherzer added, “I think people in our community forget the little ways that he’s changed things on affordability here. We wouldn’t have had the community fridge, but for Dean working with [Director of Community Services] Missi [Mancuso] to push to get that started, and now that is a central lifeline for so many in our area. The push on affordable units. He’s the one who spoke up about when the police board was pushing to have to hire a social worker that helps with individuals who are experiencing housing insecurity. Having someone with that compassion and that perspective is important to me, important to my family. And so we’re doing all we can to help him hopefully get across the finish line on February 5, which will be here before we know it.”

Dean Being Dean

Dafis’s volubility has sometimes gotten him in trouble.

In 2021, Dafis caused a backlash with a post on SOMA Lounge NJ Facebook group criticizing the effort to place a referendum on artificial turf at DeHart Park on the ballot. “Are you pissed that ONE group (via merely 1000+ signatures of registered voters out of over 19,000 registered voters in town) decided for the WHOLE TOWN to place the governing body’s decision to appropriate funding for an artificial turf field within the enclosed athletic field at DeHart Park to a public referendum?” Regarding health effects, Dafis wrote, “it’s more likely that residents will cause their own health issues and compromise their own wellness through their diet and other lifestyle choices than a nearby athletic field will cause.” Dafis also referenced “so-called ‘woke’ white people will save people of color … yeah, right.”

(The TC voted 4-1 to approve the bond for DeHart artificial turf in July 2021, with then-TC member and present Mayor Nancy Adams dissenting. The Nov. 2021 referendum, however, defeated the plan with 55% voting against artificial turf, 45% for.)

Dafis apologized for the remarks in a comment on the same post, writing, “Our kids are watching us, so we the adults should do better, myself included.”

De Luca told Village Green, “Dean sometimes responds emotionally because he does feel what’s going on. He gets out there a little bit, but what’s good that is that he apologizes. He’s not afraid to apologize if he feels that he has maybe spoke too soon or spoke in a way that people didn’t understand what he wanted. I think he gets out there and tries to make that course direction. Not everybody’s willing to do that.”

“Dean’s not afraid to take a position. That’s why I think he’d be good in Congress,” said De Luca.”I think he’ll be good at keeping Trump honest, to whatever degree that’s possible. He’ll speak truth to power. He’ll represent folks. Because he does that now.”

Dafis readily acknowledges his propensity to “get out there.”

“I’ve always been like this since, ever since I can remember as a little boy. My parents used to always say, we don’t know where you get this from… but I think I do get it from them because I watched them fight for themselves. And I saw all the injustices and the harassment and discrimination that they face as they were climbing the social ladder among immigrant groups in this country.”

“So whenever I see injustice, whenever I see something not right, I step in. I don’t even think about it. And yes, sometimes that passion has gotten me in trouble by being too honest and too truthful. And sometimes by inadvertently offending folks. ”

However, Dafis said, “I think I’m better today than I was eight years ago when I first got started here in public service. The tough part of doing this in public is that you’re growing and evolving in the public. So everybody sees the highs and everybody sees the lows.”

“I think ultimately even those for whom I’m not their cup of tea, they respect that level of intimacy and engagement and openness and willingness to put myself out there,” said Dafis. “The trick is not to offend, but I do think that we also cannot ever grow or change or do better if we don’t get a little bit uncomfortable. So I’m okay with making people a little bit uncomfortable. Because through discomfort comes change and progress.”

Dafis additionally has sometimes been caught up in drama with colleagues on the TC regarding the annual caucus to select the mayor and deputy mayor for the coming year. After a blowup in 2024 between Dafis and former Deputy Mayor Deb Engel, fences have clearly been mended between the two. Engel sent the following statement for this article:

“Dean was an early mentor to me when I first decided to jump into public service, opening doors I didn’t even know existed. I am excited about his run to represent our community in Congress. He is an affordable housing expert, understands how state and local governments work, and is never afraid to speak up and fight when our shared values are compromised. NJ-11 would be so lucky to have Dean’s voice and perspective representing us in Washington. I look forward to casting my vote for him in the primary.”

Representation Counts — But He’s More Than an LGBTQ Candidate

“This is a history making candidacy,” said Dafis, noting that he would be New Jersey’s first LGBT Congressperson, if elected. “There’s no question about it.”

Now, more than ever, said Dafis, representation matters.

He notes that he was sent through conversion therapy in his youth — “it was sanctioned at the time. It was a valid, legitimate,” and that it is now “making a comeback.”

“The resurgence is happening, and the transphobia is sort of the new homophobia that we dealt with in the seventies and eighties. This weaponization of gender politics, it’s really not even about any of us in the LGBTQ community. It really is just that fascism thrives on and depends on fear and intimidation. So you’ve got to find a bogeyman. And the bogeyman right now, on the one hand is the immigrant and on the other hand is the LGBTQ community. And then the bigger picture is Black and brown people who may also identify as both immigrants and/or LGBTQ are especially targeted. It’s all intersectional. So, for me, I think this is a moment in time where we need to increase our representation and not be told, ‘No, it’s not your time yet.'”

Nonetheless, Dafis wants voters to know that he isn’t running just as “the LGBTQ candidate.”

“I always felt that my public service is more holistic than that and bigger picture than just my identity.”

“My identity informs me,” said Dafis. “It fuels me. That’s why I’m such a fighter and such a passionate person because I understand injustice. I have lived experience in that, but … I have always felt that the issues are bigger. The issues that I’m focused on, like affordability and housing, they’re intersectional. It’s not just about one community struggle over another’s. All the communities are struggling with the high cost of living right now and the economic opportunity that doesn’t seem to exist. And the idea that the American dream is dimming for a lot of young households and certainly for a lot of immigrants. And we are a nation of immigrants.”

“Being the only out member of the Township Committee and our first gay mayor, he has been very clear about his support for the LGBT community and the trans community,” said De Luca about Dafis. “And that’s very important. But that’s not all he is. He certainly is somebody who’s been pushing other things, affordable housing, food insecurity. Dean was the mayor when we first started flying the Ukrainian flag. … he jumped on it right away because I think he understands how people get marginalized from his own personal experiences. And I think that’s important.”

An Immigrant Story

Dafis’s LGBT identity and immigrant identity intersect in interesting ways. He has long ago made peace with the fact that his traditional Greek parents sent him to conversion therapy — a story he continues to tell to educate the public and eradicate the practice — and the trauma that caused. He has accepted that his parents thought they were doing what was best for him.

“My parents who were motivated by love and fear and wanted to protect me. They did what they thought was right.”

Dafis maintains a close relationship with his parents.

“This past July 4th, my dad came to Maplewood to spend July 4th with us. And, I said, Dad, why are you coming to Maplewood? You can see fireworks in Philly, right? And he’s like, ‘No, but I love the small town America thing that you guys do there.'”

“So he came with my brother and my mom and we were laying in the park there with thousands of other people, and we were watching the fireworks,” said Dafis. “And I looked over and his eyes were welling up. I looked over and I was like, ‘What’s wrong? Are you okay?’ My father is a very stoic guy, an old country, tough guy. And he said, ‘I’m just really proud to be American and I’m proud of what this country offered your Mom and I and what we were able to do with that opportunity and hard work for you and your brother. I’m so proud of you.'”

“But I’m also really angry and sad in this moment,” said Dafis, “because what’s happening to people like me, hardworking immigrants, is exactly why we left our homeland, where we were born, our homeland, or beloved Greece, because this is what was happening there. And I just wonder if all these people laying there have any idea of what’s happening right now, that you have a dictatorship that’s growing and people just kind of like enjoying the fireworks and they don’t get it.”

An Insurgent Candidate

Some conjecture that the campaigns of Dafis and 11 other Democrats who are among the 13 to throw their hat in the ring for the special election primary, are over before they began.

That’s because, even as Dafis was collecting signatures to meet the Dec. 1 deadline to file for the special election, major Democratic Party powerbrokers and public unions were lining up to endorse one candidate: Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill. When Essex County Democratic Committee Chair Leroy Jones called the endorsement convention for Dec. 2, Dafis and other Democratic District leaders cried foul, but to no avail. In a contentious virtual convention, the ECDC endorsed Gill.

“The Essex County Democrats are lining up behind one of their own,” De Luca told Village Green. “That’s Brendan Gill. So Dean is an insurgent candidate. He’s running against a machine. Our goal locally is to elect Democrats. And we’ve proven we can: Mikie Sherrill got 91% of the vote. Kamala Harris got 90% of the vote. We deliver. We deliver not only percentages, but we deliver raw numbers. If you look at our numbers, we outperform towns that are bigger than us. And so we understand how important it is to elect Democrats and to build a strong Democratic party locally. But make no mistake about it. This Congressional race is a battle against the machine.”

“What we’re gonna do is we’re gonna use our ability to turn out votes in a primary election to get Dean elected,” said De Luca. “And I actually think that if Dean sat out, that would be the mistake.”

“There are other good candidates,” said De Luca. “There are other people I respect a lot. But I think Dean is the better candidate of them all.”

De Luca noted that this is a generational opportunity. Congressional seats can become owned by their occupants. Donald Payne Sr. and then Donald Payne Jr. occupied CD-10 — which South Orange-Maplewood were a part of until they were redistricted in 2022 — from 1989 through Payne Jr.’s untimely death in 2024.

“This is not a time for a middle of the road approach. We need somebody down there who’s going to fight for District 11,” said De Luca.

Dafis said, “We need a comeback and we’re not going to have a comeback with the same old, same old. We need new voices. We’re talking about creating opportunity for people on the ground, the families that we serve, right? Working families, so their representatives have to be the same. They have to represent them — not more of the same wealthy, well connected, established power brokers and or people who’ve already been in Washington and had an opportunity. I just think that’s the fair thing to do.”

Dafis is the right person for the moment, says Scherzer.

“That initial fire that you saw when he first joined Maplewood politics. It’s there,” said Scherzer. “And so he would just serve us so well down in DC. I’m very excited about this possibility for him, and for our community more importantly. We’re missing people who actually listen to real people. And that’s who he is. That’s been his track record his whole life, including when he was a public defender, his work he’s doing now for the state.”

“With this upcoming push to extend healthcare credits, Dean would be down there fighting tooth and nail for this.”