By Donald Gilpin
With fewer than 50 days until Election Day and only about five weeks until the start of in-person voting, the nationally watched New Jersey governor’s race between Mikie Sherrill and Jack Ciattarelli is heating up, and Princeton voters will also be weighing in on candidates for a number of local positions.
On the ballot will be two uncontested positions on Princeton Council and three uncontested spots on the Princeton Public Schools Board of Education (BOE), as well as races for Mercer County Clerk, two positions representing District 16 in the New Jersey General Assembly, and two spots on the Mercer County Board of Commissioners.
The New Jersey gubernatorial contest, one of only two in the country this November, is seen as a strong indicator of voters’ sentiments towards the Republican and Democratic parties and as a bellwether for next year’s Congressional elections. (Virginia is the other state with an election for governor this year.)
Recent polls have shown only a single digit percentage difference in support between the Democrat Congresswoman Sherrill and the Republican former State Assemblyman Ciattarelli in the race to succeed incumbent Gov. Phil Murphy, who is term-limited.
Sherrill has represented New Jersey’s 11th Congressional District since 2019 and before that worked as a lawyer in private practice and in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey. She served as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy from 1994 to 2003.
Ciattarelli served in the New Jersey General Assembly from 2011 to 2018 and before that on the Somerset Board of Commissioners and on the Raritan Borough Council. He ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2017 and 2021.
On September 21 at 7 p.m. Sherrill and Ciattarelli will meet in a town hall meeting-style debate at Rider University sponsored by the New Jersey Globe, On New Jersey, and Rider University and authorized by the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission. The debate will be livestreamed on New Jersey Globe and On New Jersey, as well as on social media and C-SPAN.
Locally, in the election for two positions on Princeton Council, Democrats Michelle Pirone Lambros and Mia Sacks are both running unopposed for a third term.
In the Princeton BOE Election, Dafna Kendal, Susan Kanter, and Erica Snyder are also unopposed in seeking three available positions. Snyder will be a new member of the School Board, with Kendal entering her fourth term and Kanter her third.
In the County Clerk contest, incumbent Democrat Paula Sollami Covello will be facing Republican challenger Shaolin Brown. Running for two District 16 seats in the General Assembly are incumbent Democrats Roy Freiman and Michelle Drulis against Republicans Catherine Payne and Scott Sipos. And on the ballot for County Commissioner are Democrat incumbents Nina Melker and Cathleen L. Lewis squaring off against Republican challengers Daniel J. Hanly Jr. and Alexander DiFalco.
Sunday’s gubernatorial debate at Rider University, presented by O’Toole Scrivo, LLC, will be moderated by Emmy Award-winning journalist Laura Jones and will feature David Wildstein of the New Jersey Globe, Micah Rasmussen of Rider University’s Rebovich Institute, and Sophie Nieto-Munoz of the New Jersey Monitor. Rider University students will also be questioning the candidates. AARP New Jersey will be hosting a debate pre-show at 5 p.m. and a debate post-show at 8:30 p.m.
Prospective voters who are not registered have until October 14 to register. Information on registration and voting by mail, along with other election information is available at vote.nj.com. In-person early voting will take place from Saturday, October 25 through Sunday November 2, with Election Day on November 4.