Former Jersey City police officer, Hudson County Executive chief of staff and de facto County Executive Craig Guy steamrolled his progressive opponent in Tuesday’s primary election, one of more than two dozen victories for the Hudson County Democratic Organization across local, county and state races.
Many of the well-funded HCDO candidates like Sen. Brian Stack and soon-to-be Sen. Raj Mukherji ran unopposed, and most of those that had competition posted big victories over challengers from the Hudson County Progressives’ slate.
The underdogs felt going into election season that working as a unified team would produce better results. In the end, just two were competitive.
In all, HCDO candidates had at least 24 victories in the 26 races. The other two, are too close to call at the moment.
The only close races of the night came in the Hudson County Board of Commissioner elections.
Incumbent Yraida Aponte-Lipski was leading Mamta Singh, 54% to 46%, for the Democratic nomination for the Hudson County Board of Commissioners District 4 seat. The Republicans did not field a candidate in District 4. In District 5, incumbent Anthony Romano — who assumed the chairmanship when Anthony Vainieri stepped down — held a slim lead over Progressives’ Ron Bautista.
Guy, who was endorsed by the governor’s office, the HDCO and multiple unions, declared victory over Progressives’ candidate Eleana Little early Tuesday night, claiming 75% of the vote.
“I’m so grateful to the people of Hudson County for delivering this resounding victory,” said Guy. “I would like to thank my family and friends for their support throughout this journey, to my wonderful campaign team led by my campaign manager Julietta Vogt, to each of Hudson County’s 12 mayors and all of the elected officials and labor leaders who endorsed us and to everyone who cast their vote in this historic election.
“I also thank my opponent Eleana Little for running a spirited campaign, and I look forward to working with her to find new solutions to the challenges facing our communities. Hudson County is united and strong and we will now move forward together to continue delivering the progress that our residents deserve.”
According to Election Law Enforcement Commission reports, Guy’s campaign raised nearly $1 million and spent more than $750,000 to win the primary and in all practicality, the November election. No one is running for the position on the Republican side.
Even if there were an opponent, Republican victories in the heavily Democratic Hudson County are rare.
Dino Grilo won a second term as mayor in East Newark, defeating challenger Jessica Diaz by a roughly 4-to-1 margin. Again, no Republicans ran in the East Newark primary. The two incumbent borough council candidates ran unopposed.
Assemblywoman Angela McKnight, running for the 31st District senate seat previous held by Sandra Cunningham, defeated Michael Griffin by a roughly 3-to-1 margin. In the district’s assembly primary, Barbara Stamato and William Sampson IV advanced to November by more than doubling Progressives’ Shanelle Smith’s vote total.
Aside from the token resistance of Republicans in November, Stamato and Sampson’s competition will come from Jersey City Board of Education Vice President Noemi Velazquez and Bayonne Board of Education member Mary Jane Desmond, who filed their petitions to get on the November ballot as independents.
A spokesman for Guy said there was a higher-than-expected turnout, with nearly 45,000 total ballots cast in Hudson County according to preliminary results. This was significantly higher than the 29,503 total votes cast in the 2019 primary election, which is the last time when the state Legislature topped the ticket.
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