The long trend of Middlesex County Democratic Organization-backed candidates prevailing in primary elections continued this year.
The incumbents won their races for surrogate and two, three-year seats on the county commission, according to unofficial results.
Surrogate Claribel Cortes, who was tapped to replace retiring Kevin Hoagland earlier this year, cruised past Bruce Seitz by an unofficial vote of 29,224 to 5,986.
Running unopposed in the Republican primary for surrogate was Lisa Goldhamer who received 14,951 votes.
Democratic County Commissioners Ronald Rios and Shanti Narra easily held off challengers Veena Sinha and David S. Ye. Rios unofficially received 27,856 votes and Narra received 27,348, while Sinha had 7,640 and Ye got 7,306.
Democrats choose Joshi over Bhagia for party line in Edison mayoral primary
Democrats choose Joshi over Bhagia for party line in Edison mayoral primary
Correspondent
In what is usually behind-the-scenes power wrangling, the feud between Edison’s local Democratic Party members and the Middlesex County Democratic Organization (MCDO) has gone public.
The MCDO denied the will of the Edison Democratic Party Committee by throwing its official support behind Edison Councilman Sam Joshi for the Edison mayoral position, instead of backing Mahesh Bhagia, the candidate favored by the Edison Democrats.
Bhagia, who serves as chair of the local Edison Democratic Party, won the local party’s endorsement in February by a 3-to-1 margin.
April 7, 2021 at 8:00 AM
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April 7, 2021 at 8:00 AM
Edison: Three individuals have filed petitions to run for Mayor in the Democratic Primary on June 8th. The winner of the Democratic Primary will face Republican Keith Hahn who submitted his petition but is running unopposed in the Republican Primary.
Edison Democratic Organization Chairman Mahesh Baghia, Edison Councilman Sam Joshi and Township political newcomer Al Esposito have all filed petitions to run in the Democratic Primary. According to a source very familiar with Edison politics, the primary will come down to a race between Baghia and Joshi.
Chairman Baghia, who is running his first Township wide race for municipal office, is currently a Chief Operating Officer for a hotel construction company. Councilman Joshi, who ran unsuccessfully in a Democratic Primary in 2011, but won a Council position in 2017, is a Vice President at a mortgage company.