Village Green aims to cover all local elections as fairly and completely as possible.
Maplewood Municipal Election: Two Township Committee Seats in 2026
Two of five Township Committee seats are up for election in Maplewood in 2026. The candidates are: Green Team member and “Bike Bus” dad Martin Ceperley; current Mayor Vic De Luca, running for his 10th term on the Township Committee (the mayor is elected by the five members of the TC); and Planning Board and Hilton Neighborhood Association member John T. Sullivan. All three candidates are running separately and not as part of a slate.
The term of each seat is for three years.
Left to right: Martin Ceperley, vic De Luca, and John T. Sullivan.
One candidate forum is scheduled for the primary thus far: The Hilton Neighborhood Association forum on Thursday, May 21.
No Republicans candidates have filed to run in the primary election, which takes place on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. The general election takes place on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
NJ-11 Congressional Primary
Newly elected NJ-11 Congresswoman Analilia Mejia won a special election on April 16 and was sworn into office on April 20, but she needs to run again in the regular primary on June 2. This time, she is facing only three opponents (as opposed to 10): Donald Cresitello, a former mayor of Morristown running under the slogan “Democrat with Experience Municipal, Business, International”; Joseph Lewis, a technical product lead from Montville, who is running under the banner “Fighting to Fix a Broken Economy”; and Justin Strickland, a Chatham councilman who ran unsuccessfully in the special primary, and is calling for “Universal Healthcare and Term Limits.”
Republican Joe Hathaway, who lost to Mejia in the April 16 special election, is running unopposed in the June 2 primary.
Read more about the race in NJ Spotlight’s Primary Guide.
County Commissioners and Executive
Essex County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo is running unopposed in his bid for a seventh term in the Democratic primary. Maritza Mathews is running unopposed in the Republican primary.
There are nine County Commissioner seats, all up for election. Former Maplewood Deputy Mayor Deb Engel is running for one of the four at-large seats. Maplewood also votes for a Commissioner for District 2; South Orange votes in District 3. In District 2, A’Dorian Murray-Thomas is running in the Democratic primary; no Republican has filed to run. In District 3, Medinah Muhammad is running in the Democratic primary; no Republican has filed to run.
The Commissioner Board has several powers, including approval of the annual operating and capital budgets, passing ordinances and resolutions, overriding a veto of the County Executive and conducting investigations.
Read more about the Commissioners and County Executive races in Patch and the SOMA Action Voter Guide.
District Leader Primary
There are also numerous candidates running for district leader in the Democratic primary in South Orange and Maplewood. South Orange elects two leaders for each of its 12 districts. Maplewood elects two leaders for each of its 21 districts.
SOMA Action has invited district leader candidates to submit information for its Voter Guide, which also provides extensive information on other local races.
Voter Registration
Voter Registration Deadline for the Primary Election is May 12, 2024. Find out more here.
Early Voting and Mail-In Voting
Early in-person voting for the primary election runs from May 26-31. May 26 is the deadline to apply for a Mail-In Ballot by Mail for the June 2 primary election.
Village Green Guidelines
Village Green will publish candidate profiles for all candidates before the elections. These profiles must outline a candidate’s history and platform and not engage in attacks on opposing candidates.
We look forward to covering candidate forums and will post information on forums when they are announced. Thus far, one forum is scheduled for May 21 for the Maplewood Township Committee candidates. It is hosted by the Hilton Neighborhood Association. Details to come.
No campaigning is allowed on our Facebook group.
Village Green publishes Letters to the Editors in support of candidates. Publishing these letters is at the discretion of the editors. We do not publish letters attacking competing candidates. We aim to publish all letters received — providing they do not contain personal attacks, profanity or verifiably false information; however, if there is a large volume of letters and they are received late in the race, we cannot guarantee that they will be posted. Letters to the Editors can be submitted to [email protected]. Please send as a Word or Google document, not as a PDF.
Letters of support are an opportunity for residents to speak positively about why their candidate(s) of choice is(are) the best candidate(s). Please provide your name and place of residence (town and state).
The deadline for submitting a Letter to the Editor for the Spring 2026 Primary election is Friday, May 22, at 5 p.m.
Candidates are welcome to advertise on the site; however, advertising will not impact news coverage. In addition, candidates who present newsworthy items may receive coverage at the discretion of the editors.
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