By Donald Gilpin

Princeton voters went to the polls in person on Tuesday, June 8 — unlike last year’s elections which were mostly by mail-in ballot — to nominate candidates for Princeton Council, state legislature, governor, and other offices.

Results were not available at press time yesterday, but in the Princeton Council primary Democrats Eve Niedergang and Leighton Newlin were running unopposed for the two open seats in the November general election, with no Republicans filed to run against them.

Niedergang, a 35-year resident of Princeton, is completing her first three-year term on Council, where she serves on a number of key committees. She is volunteer coordinator at the Watershed Institute in Pennington, and in the past has worked on a number of local organizations and as a volunteer in the public schools.

Newlin, a longtime active member of the Princeton community who served on the Princeton Housing Authority Board of Commissioners for 24 years, 19 of those years as chair, is seeking to fill the Council seat occupied by Dwaine Williamson, who is not running for re-election. Newlin currently serves as co-chair of the Witherspoon-Jackson Neighborhood Association and is a board member of the Witherspoon-Jackson Historical and Cultural Society and The Paul Robeson House.

Other races of local interest include a state Senate seat and two positions in the state General Assembly for the 16th Legislative District. Assemblyman Andrew Zwicker was running unopposed for the Democratic nomination for state senate, seeking the seat currently occupied by Republican Christopher “Kip” Bateman, who will step down at the end of the year.

In the Republican primary, former Congressman Mike Pappas was running against Jeffrey Grant, an engineer, for a place on the ballot in the November state Senate contest.

Running for the Democratic nomination for two seats representing the 16th Legislative District in the General Assembly were incumbent Roy Freiman, and new candidates Sadaf Jaffer and Faris Zwirahn. 

In the Republican primary, Joseph A. Lukac, III and Vincent Panico were running unopposed for the two Republican spots on the November 2 ballot and the right to take on the two Democratic nominees.

In the gubernatorial primary, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, seeking his second term, was running unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Competing in the Republican primary for the right to challenge Murphy in the November 2 general election were former state Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, former Franklin Mayor Brian Levine, pastor Phil Rizzo, and engineer Hirsh Singh.

Also on the ballot for Princeton voters were primary elections for Mercer County surrogate, three positions on the Mercer County Board of Commissioners (formerly known as Mercer County freeholders), and three male and three female positions on the Democratic State Committee, and one male and one female position on the Republican State Committee.

Election results are available through the Mercer County Clerk’s Office at mercercounty.org.