Election-night returns listed Democrats in all nine Essex County Board of Commissioners races, though the results are not final. The five district seats were listed for Wilson Pichardo, A’Dorian Murray-Thomas, Medinah E. Muhammad, Leonard Luciano and Carlos Pomares; the four at-large seats were listed for Wayne Richardson, Christine McGrath, Abdur R. Yasin and Deborah Engel. NJ.com’s results page showed no Republican nominee in the 1st, 2nd or 3rd District races.
The countywide at-large Democratic candidates were listed against Republicans Demetrius Eley, Daniela Ferreira Almeida, Douglas Freeman and Sahwa DeFrank, and independent candidate Wynnie-Fred Victor Hinds, according to NJ.com’s Essex County results. In the 4th District, Luciano defeated Republican Adam Kraemer; in the 5th, Pomares defeated Republican Frank Contella, as reported by TAPinto East Orange & Orange.
Muhammad’s district and background
The 3rd District includes East Orange, Orange, South Orange and part of Newark’s West Ward. Muhammad, an East Orange Board of Education member, is set to succeed Tyshammie Cooper, who did not seek reelection, according to TAPinto.
TAPinto reported that Muhammad won the Democratic nomination in June after receiving the party’s endorsement at its March convention, where she defeated Orange Democratic municipal chair Antoinett Hall, 132 votes to 29. Her previous public-service roles included work as an aide to former Gov. Phil Murphy, chief of staff to then-Assemblywoman Britnee Timberlake, positions at the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and Department of Transportation, and chair of the East Orange Parking Authority. The New Jersey Globe also reported on her state-government and Parking Authority experience.
Certification and longer-term context
The returns remain unofficial. NJ.com reported that ballots mailed and postmarked by Election Day could be accepted through November 9, with provisional ballots to be counted after mail-in ballots were tallied. TAPinto also reported that the results await certification by county election officials.
The New Jersey Globe reported that Republicans have not won an Essex County at-large commissioner seat since 1971. It also reported that at-large commissioners Brendan Gill, Patricia Sebold and Romaine Sermons were not seeking reelection. Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. was also on the ballot, according to NorthJersey.com.
County budget and public improvements
Essex County’s adopted 2025 budget authorized $460,435,000 for county purposes and a $16,000,000 levy for its Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund, according to the county’s adopted budget. Separately, the county Division of Housing & Community Development’s proposed PY 2025 One Year Action Plan recommended $2,325,936 for public improvement activities, according to the plan.
