Essex County elections: A look at the contested races
Nine seats on the Essex County Board of Commissioners are up for grabs this November. All seven of those contested races feature incumbent Democrats vying for re-election against Republican challengers.
Moreover, incumbent Democratic County Surrogate Alturrick Kenney is fighting to retain office, as are incumbents in any number of local races for school boards and governing bodies.
Bellow is a roundup of all contested races for county, local, and school district seats, under consideration in this year's general election on Tuesday, Nov. 7, as well as ballot questions posed to voters in Millburn and Verona.
Incumbents are marked with an "(I)." Candidates in all races are listed alphabetically under their party affiliation (if relevant,) with Republicans listed first, in keeping with the outcome of a random drawing for ballot lines A and B by County Clerk Christopher Durkin. Slate affiliations are not noted.
Essex County Commissioners
Running for four at-Large seats with 3-year terms
Republican
Joseph Cifelli
Alexandra Campisi
Aristotle Popolizio
Michael Pocelinko
Democrat
Patricia Sebold (I)
Brendan W. Gill (I)
Romaine Graham (I)
Wayne L. Richardson (I)
Running for one seat in the 5th District with a 3-year term (Belleville, Bloomfield, Glen Ridge, Montclair, Nutley)
Republican
Kristen M. Bloschak
Democrat
Carlos M. Pomares (I)
Running for one seat in the 4th District with a 3-year term (Cedar Grove, Millburn, Verona)
Republican
Adam Kraemer
Democrat
Leonard M. Luciano (I)
Essex County Surrogate
Running for one seat with a 5-year term
Republican
Peter Russo
Democrat
Alturrick Kenney (I)
Belleville
Running for two seats on the School Board with 3-year terms
Nelson Barrera
Erika V. Jacho (I)
Esteban M. Leon
Lissa Missaggia
Kenia Nicole Arroyabe
Brenda Pacheco
Michael Sheldon
Bloomfield
Running for three seats on the Board of Education with 3-year terms
Pedro Antonio Gongora
Kasey Dudley (I)
Nadeisha Greene (I)
Stephanie Parry (I)
Jefferson Ramos
Sandra Tufaro-Sarapoulos
Millburn
Running for two seats on the Township Committee with 3-year terms
Republican
Frank Saccomandi IV
Ben Stoller
Democrat
Charu Goel
Bruce Kramer
Running for three seats on the Board of Education with 3-year terms
Andrew Finklestein
John “Jack” Merimee (I)
Cynthia Longley Richards
Pujat Parikh
Louie Shen (I)
Priya Shivani
Alexander Zaltsman (I)
Ballot question
Voters are asked whether they approve of the district’s intention to issue nearly $13 million in bonds to fund renovations, alterations and improvements at Millburn High School, Millburn Middle School, Deerfield Elementary School, Glenwood Elementary School, Hartshorn Elementary School, South Mountain Elementary School, Wyoming Elementary School and Washington Elementary School, including acquisition and installation of equipment, fixtures and furnishings, as well as other related costs.
Montclair
Running for three seats on the Board of Education with 3-year terms
Stuart Ball
Alex Binkley
Melanie Deysher (I)
Phaedra Dunn (I)
Jessica Glass
Theodore Graham
Will Novak
Kimberly Robinson Santos
Allison Silverstein (I)
Nutley
Running for three seats on the Board of Education with 3-year terms
Salvatore Balsamo (I)
Lisa Danchak-Martin (I)
Salvatore Ferraro (I)
Stephen Gilberti
Verona
Running for one seat on the Board of Education with a 3-year term
Dominic Ferry
Michael D. Boone
Ballot Question
Ballot question
Voters are asked whether they support raising the local tax levy from $0.02 to $0.03 per $100 of their assessed home value in an effort to continue financing the municipal Open Space Trust Fund for the maintenance and preservation of all township-owned park space.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Essex County elections: A look at the contested races
