Uncontested

Nothing changed in Middlesex Borough municipal politics on Primary Day, June 4. Republicans Ken Griggs Jr. and Joe DeScenza will join the Borough Council next January, barring any unforeseen circumstances.

DeScenza and Griggs were unopposed in the GOP primary. They have no Democratic or Independent opponents in the coming November general election.

When New Jersey towns appear headed for uncontested general elections, Primary Day offers a last chance to have wrinkles thrown in.

Independent candidates can submit petitions by Primary Day to get on the November ballot. If either Democrats or Republicans have no candidates via the petition process, voters have an opportunity to elect them in the June primary through write-ins.

No Independent council candidates filed petitions by June 4. Middlesex Borough Democrats cast 42 primary write-in votes for council candidates, according to the Middlesex County Clerk’s Office.

Two write-in votes were the most received by any Democrat. Two reached that total. Fifty write-in votes were needed to get a spot on the November ballot.

The following people received write-in votes for Borough Council in the Democratic primary:

Anthony J. Szulozewski, Bert Hickson, Brian Malchiodi, Christian Marcuzzi, Edgar Pearson, Eric Hildebrand, Hilary Pearson (2).

James McKeever, Jeanette DeJesus, Jeanette Rios, Joe Zupko, John Auger, John Gary, Joshua M. Szulczewski (2), Judith Auger, Juliana Jones, Kathy Jones, Leonard Jackson, Linda Harrity, Matthew J. Murray, Matthew Sox, Michael Vacca.

Also receiving Democratic council votes were: “DeScenza,” “Dessino,” “Invalid,” and “Kim.”

DeScenza received 599 votes from Republican primary voters. Griggs got 597.

Middlesex Borough now faces its second consecutive uncontested general election for council seats. Without opponents, Griggs and DeScenza are on the road to replacing Republican councilmen Doug Rex and Martin Quinn, who are not seeking re-election.

In 2023, there was also no contest for the mayoralty. The ballot has included only GOP candidates for municipal elected offices for the past two years.

Prior to the uncontested elections in 2023 and 2024, Republicans won all council seats contested against Democrats from 2017 to 2022 as well as the mayoralty in 2019.

Once Griggs and DeScenza are sworn in next January, five of the governing body’s seven members will have been uncontested for their active terms. Seventy-one percent of the mayor and council will have been unchallenged for their positions.

Board of Education candidates have until late July to file for the general election. School board candidates do not have a political party affiliation listed on the November ballot.

The Republican primary also saw district representatives elected to GOP Municipal Committee seats. All ran uncontested.

Winning Republican Committee seats were: Michael and Jan Hompesch, Kevin Nelson, Kenneth Griggs Jr., John Madden, Toni Sickle, Michael and Maddalena Conahan, Todd Nicolay, Ann Marie Kleiber, Frank Ryan, Thomas Thornton, Richard Clock, Robert Dessino, Dennis Reilly, and Hardik Shah.

Four Republican Committee district seats are vacant as no candidates ran to fill them.

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