Residents of the Hopewell Valley will be heading to their polling locations on Tuesday, Nov. 4 for midterm elections, but for the first time in 16 years, Democrat Rush Holt will not be on the ballot.
Holt announced his retirement in February, not long after challenging former Newark Mayor Cory Booker to be the Democratic candidate to fill the seat of Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who died in June 2013. Booker, 45, won the primary and the special election, and is running again this year against Republican challenger Jeff Bell, 70.
Instead of Holt, Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman will be the Democrat on the ballot in the 12th District. Watson Coleman won a bruising Democratic primary over state Sen. Linda Greenstein in June, and is running against Republican Alieta Eck to represent New Jersey’s 12th Congressional District.
Watson Coleman, 69, is a resident of Ewing. She has a bachelor’s degree from Thomas Edison State College. She has served in the General Assembly since 1998 and was majority leader from 2006 to 2009, the first black woman to do so. She was also the first black woman to serve as chair of the Democratic State Committee.
Eck, 62, of Franklin Township, graduated from the Rutgers College of Pharmacy and earned a medical degree from the St. Louis University School of Medicine. With her husband, Dr. John Eck, she founded the Zarephath Health Center, a free clinic for the poor and uninsured.
Locally, Hopewell Township residents will be voting for two Committee seats in this year’s election. Democratic incumbent Vanessa Sandom (currently serving as mayor) and running mate Kevin Kuchinski are up against Republican challengers Ron Cefalone and Tim Shaub. Current committee member and deputy mayor Allen Cannon is running for Senate as an independent.
Meanwhile, Pennington and Hopewell Borough residents will be making symbolic votes when it comes to choosing among candidates for their borough councils, all of whom are running unopposed.
In Pennington, Democrats Glen Griffiths and Catherine “Kit” Chandler are running for three-year terms, while Democrats Deborah Gnatt and Joseph Lawver are in for unexpired one-year terms. Griffiths, Gnatt and Lawver are all current members of council. Chandler is a former member of council. Current council president Edwin “Weed” Tucker is not seeking reelection.
In Hopewell Borough, Republicans Schuyler Morehouse, Robert Lewis (three-year terms) and Roxanne Klett (one-year unexpired term) are running unopposed. All are incumbents.
At the county level there are races for sheriff and the Board of Chosen Freeholders. Five candidates are seeking two seats on the freeholder board.
Democrats Lucylle R.S. Walter (Ewing) and John A. Cimino (Hamilton) are the incumbents, and Republicans Bhanu “Sunny” Kirpalani and Andrew Curcio (both from Hamilton) are challengers. Also running is Libertarian Steven J. Uccio of East Windsor.
Democrat John A. “Jack” Kemler has served as Mercer County Sheriff since November 2010. Kemler began his career in law enforcement in 1983 when he joined the Trenton Police Department. In 2002, he was appointed to the county sheriff’s office as chief sheriff officer. Prior to becoming sheriff, he also served as chief warrant officer and undersheriff.
Kemler’s Republican challenger is David C. Jones, who retired from a 27-year career with the New Jersey State Police in 2013. At the time of his retirement, Jones held the position of commanding officer in the Office of Professional Standards. Jones resides in Robbinsville.
Aliza Alperin-Sheriff contributed to this story.
